Barry’s Enters Israel, Pushes Global Expansion

Barry’s is muscling its way into new markets, with a big focus on the Middle East.

What’s happening: The California-born boutique HIIT studio signed a three-unit deal to enter Israel, starting with Tel Aviv. In a separate deal, Barry’s will head to Bahrain before the year is out, with a further site in Egypt in the works.

Back on home turf, the US company also plans to enter additional cities, as well as ‘infilling’ existing markets. According to CEO Joey Gonzalez, following a pandemic-driven pause on expansion, the brand is keen to explore new territories with a decidedly measured approach:

“We unexpectedly had to spend 3 years optimizing, innovating, and preparing Barry’s to sprint at 12.5 [mph] out of the gates once recovered. It’s exciting to once again be thoughtfully revving our engine for growth.”

The Red Room boom. With 84 locations spanning 14 countries, including England, Norway, Italy, The UAE, Australia and Singapore, the brand’s appeal transcends its free weights and treadmills, with customers hooked on the community as much as its signature workouts held in the mood-lit ‘Red Room’.

Having grown alongside the boutique fitness category, as the landscape has shifted in recent years, its focus pivoted towards diversification and content:

• In 2021, it entered the digital fitness market with Barry’s X, enabling its community to participate in live and on-demand workouts via web and mobile apps.
• The same year, Barry’s partnered with smart fitness mirror FORME (which just entered Europe) on licensed content while selling its hardware at studios.
• In 2022, it unveiled a new strength + cycling format, RIDE x LIFT, as a lower-impact alternative to its traditional classes, co-locating RIDE studios within or in close proximity to existing Barry’s locations.

At its core, however, its ultra-popular in-studio HIIT continues to drive the brand forward, with studios in NYC and LA seeing more footfall than pre-pandemic. Regaining profitability last year on $100M in revenue, the business is pacing 40% higher than that in 2023.

In Full Swing

Buoyed by the bounce-back of in-person fitness, Barry’s isn’t the only high-intensity operator accelerating global expansion efforts.

And as the Middle East emerges as fertile ground for growth, US- and UK-based concepts including Equinox, Orangetheory and 1REBEL have already put down roots in the region.

Scaling up elsewhere, Aussie-born functional fitness franchises STRONG Pilates, UBX, Fitstop and BFT are currently pursuing hyper-growth across Europe and North America. And UK HIIT concept TRIB3 is testing the waters in Spain and Portugal.

Looking ahead: As the return to in-person fitness remains strong, gyms and studios are making up for lost time, using expansion into uncharted territories as a means to sustainable growth. For Barry’s, the Middle East represents the latest ‘right place, right time’ opportunity, as it searches for its next stop.