Closing...Open doors to operators

In the following article from Franchise Times, author Beth Mattson-Teigs repurposing and converting real estate for franchise locations. Gravity Vault's co-founder Tim Walsh discusses the franchises' unique repurposing of empty locations for their indoor rock climbing gyms.

Closing...

..open doors to operators

BETH MATTSON-TEIG

While big retailers close stores, franchisees are targeting the empty boxes for expansion. But not every space works for every operator. A Batteries Plus Bulbs exec insists the right location trumps a vacated space.

Another wave of store closings from national chains such as Radio Shack and Staples has not been good news for landlords. But, franchisees searching for new locations are happy to pounce on the fresh real estate opportunities.

“We tend to stay the course and find the best space, and not necessarily settle” because the box is empty, says B+B’s John Twist.

The road to recovery has been bumpy for shopping center owners. Landlords have made progress in their efforts to fill empty spaces. Yet just as property owners begin to see some improvement, another shoe drops. The weak economic recovery along with growing competition from e-commerce continues to take its toll on retailers.  

Most landlords had hoped the worst was behind them, after weathering the fallout from bankruptcy filings and a slew of store closures from national brands such as Blockbuster Video, Borders and Circuit City. That is not the case. Earlier this year, Radio Shack announced plans to shutter 1,100 stores, while Staples has said it will close 225 stores by the end of 2015. And there are hundreds more store closings still in the pipeline.

The Office Depot/OfficeMax merger has left the new Office Depot with a surplus of about 300 stores expected to close in the next 18 months. It remains to be seen if a buyer will step in to take over the 260-store Brookstone, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April. Barnes & Noble expects to shrink its store count by about one-third over the next few years as its leases expire. Even Walgreens, a solid-credit company, is planning to close 75 of its under-performing or redundant stores this year, according to a recent research report from Cassidy Turley.

Franchisees, on the other hand, are taking advantage of these closures to secure new locations. Store closings are one of the few sources of new real estate inventory open to franchisees.

Batteries Plus Bulbs is one chain taking advantage. The franchise has been opening about 50 to 60 locations each year over the last six to seven years. “There is definitely a tight supply of what we would consider grade A sites in many markets,” says John Twist, vice president of franchise and business development at Batteries Plus Bulbs in Hartland, Wisconsin. There are vacant spaces available, but many are vacant for a reason. Some stores have poor visibility or poor ingress and egress, he adds. 

Converting non-retail space

Renovating one “vanilla box” retail space to a new retail use is fairly easy for most franchisees. However, landing desirable real estate locations also means thinking outside the box on occasion. Converting a non-retail space to a new use can be key to landing a prime location or securing a bargain-priced real estate opportunity. 

Those unique conversion projects are standard fare for The Gravity Vault, an indoor rock-climbing gym. Finding a space that fits the company’s needs is one of the company’s biggest challenges. The concept requires between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet with high ceiling heights of 30 to 40 feet. The first two corporate locations in Chatham and Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, went into facilities originally built as indoor tennis centers in the 1970s.

“Recycling old fitness or old recreation centers works for us,” says Tim Walsh, co-founder of The Gravity Vault. Oftentimes, there is quite a bit of rehab that comes along with those locations, but the “bones” of the buildings in terms of the size and structure are a good match, he adds. 

The older buildings typically need updating, such as adding energy-efficient lighting and roof repairs. So, it is a balance to find the right locations and make sure franchisees don’t end up paying too much to renovate or reconfigure the space. The best advice is to do due diligence on a building before making a commitment. “A lot of times we will get our contractors or architects involved to make sure that the building really does have what we’re looking for,” says Walsh. 

Read article here.

10 Pro Tips for Rock Climbing Beginners

In an article from Popular Mechanics, Stewart Green offers his best advice for getting vertical.

How to Get Started: 10 Pro Tips for Rock-Climbing Beginners

Stewart Green fell in love with rock climbing when he was 12 years old exploring the granite slabs of North Cheyenne Canyon in Colorado Springs, Colo. Nearly 50 years later, he is an authority on the sport and the author of 19 books, most of them rock-climbing guides. 

Green climbs around the world and loves to see new climbers develop their abilities. Just back from a climbing and photography trip to California, Green sat down with PopMech to offer these tips for getting vertical: 

1. "Head for a climbing gym," Green says. "Climbing indoors is easy and safe, and it's a great way to try the sport and see what it is about. You can rent equipment, get instruction, and learn basic climbing skills." When you get to an indoor climbing gym, watch the experienced climbers. Reach out to other climbers at the gym and learn from their experiences. 

2. Learn the language: Rock shoes are shoes with smooth soles made of extremely sticky rubber. A harness is a belt that loops around a climber's legs and waist and has attachments that connect to a rope. A belay is a metal device used in belaying (one climber securing the rope for the other climber as he ascends) or in rappelling (a controlled slide down the rope to the ground). Locking carabiners are metal links that connect the climbing rope to the harness. 

3. Perfect your moves and your rock-climbing skills before you head out to the real rock. Considerbuilding your own climbing wall. That way, you can boulder, or climb to small heights, and practice your technique. 

4. Once you feel ready to climb outdoors, recognize that climbing is a dangerous sport. The most advanced indoor skills don't necessarily prepare you for a safe outdoor experience. 

5. To make an outdoor experience as safe as possible, go with experienced climbers. Hire a guide or take outdoor lessons from a guide service. 

To read the rest of the article read here.

Women's Fitness and Intro to Climbing Class

There will be another session of this great class beginning June 10th at The Gravity Vault in Upper Saddle River, NJ!

Free Climbing Tips: Why Get Stronger When You Can Get Better?

This article, written by Andrew Bisharat for rockandice.com discusses the importance of technique over strength. 

Free Climbing Tips: Why Get Stronger When You Can Get Better?

Being good at rock climbing is all about learning proper technique and then ingraining it so it becomes second nature. In the long run, technique will take you much further than a strong back and a vice grip. Yet most climbers are hyper-focused on trying to get stronger oftentimes at the expense of learning good tecehnique.

Emily Harrington, who has climbed multiple 5.14's in various stages of personal fitness, recognizes the superlative of proper technique. Emily has been climbing for 13 years, putting in well over the requisite 10,000 hours one supposedly needs to master any craft. As a result, she believes that no matter what shape she's in, she will always be able to climb at a baseline of 5.12a throughout life.

If you know how to move your body, you should be able to climb 5.12a, Emily says, no matter how strong' you are.

This may seem surprising to the climbers out there for whom 5.12a is a lifetime goal, yet the point is not that 5.12 is easy, but rather that proper technique honed over many hours of practice is more enduring than one's momentary form
(strength and fitness
). The problem is, it's easier to get stronger than it is to get better. Anyone can go to the gym and rip off a bunch of reps or climb a bunch of boulder problems and feel as though they have accomplished something. Training with the goal of improving technique is more cerebral, requiring a certain degree of consciousness about what you're doing. This is because good technique is all about ingraining movements, coordinating the upper and lower body and maintaining awareness of how much effort you're expending to the point that it becomes second nature. Great climbers aren't thinking about what they need to do -- they just do the exact right thing. This is the art of free climbing.

Improvements in one's technique are much less tangible -- harder to measure or gauge. Thus, it can be difficult to know how to approach the gym with the goal of becoming a better free climber. Here are a few tips that you may find useful
:

First, be good: Many beginner and intermediate climbers have approached me wanting to know how to get strong, but I've never heard anyone ask how to get good. The two are undoubtedly related. But instead of jumping on the hardest route or boulder problem you think you can do, focus on making perfect ascents of easier routes and problems. Try to be good before you try to be strong. How perfectly can you climb something?

Bad feet: Problems in the gym typically get harder as the hand holds become worse and farther apart, while usually the foot jibs remain pretty good. But if you have the ability to help set some problems wherever you climb indoors, I recommend setting decent hand holds and the worst, most polished, difficult-to-stand-on footholds you can find. You want them to be bad, but not so bad that you just force a campus move. You want the focus to be on using your feet properly -- the first and most lastingly important step in becoming good. As a double benefit, nothing will get you stronger than climbing problems with bad feet.

Master the back-step: One of the most useful maneuvers in climbing is the back-step, where you stand on the outside edge of your right foot and rotate your lower body so that your right hip is against the wall (or vice versa). Most people climb straight on, with their hands and feet set as if they were climbing up a ladder. If you watch great climbers, they are rarely so squared up; one hip or another is always twisted toward the wall, with a foot back-stepping. Also, focus on getting into back-steps quicker. Many climbers put, say, their left foot on a hold, then match their right foot on the hold in the back-step position. Instead of messing around with matching feet, many times it's better to cross the right leg over and get into the back-step right away.

To read the rest of the article click here.

Over at Climbing.com, Chris Wright has put together a "how-to" for packing your bag in such a way to make you the most efficient.

Learn This: Pack Smarter

When I see that guy on the trail with a tent, banjo, puppy, and pony keg swaying from carabiners, I’m just left wondering why. Why do so many of our otherwise reasonable mountain buddies want so badly to strap their kit to the outside of their sad, under-utilized packs instead of just putting it all inside? First is the matter of style. I’m not talking about what kind of jacket you’re wearing; I’m talking about whether you’re the guy making it look easy or making it look ugly. Here’s another way to look at it: You wouldn’t strap a banana to the outside of your grocery bag, would you? Then why do you clip water bottles and cams to the outside of your backpack? Bags are meant to be filled, and we should all strive to put our gear inside our packs. Not only will you win those style points, but your pack will carry better because the load will be properly distributed on the frame and not sway. If all of your things are inside, they won’t get in the way, fall off, get snagged, or get wet. Take a look at the pros: Steve House didn’t summit the Slovak Direct on Denali with a Nalgene swinging from a biner on his pack. Here’s how to pack for success.

Choose the right packThere is no single tool for every job, but you can find one pack that will work for most of your trips. The pack that I take to the Himalaya is often the same pack I take to Alaska or the Cascades. You want something that’s big enough to carry everything for the climb, yet small enough that it won’t get in your way on-route. My favorite is a model that expands to 50 liters, cinches down to 30, and weighs 2.5 pounds. It’s light and versatile. I have a quiver of bigger and smaller packs, but this is the one I use most.

Sort your gearTry dividing things into a few categories before you load them. The first group is the little stuff you might need in a hurry, like a headlamp, food, and water. That’s going in the lid for easy access. The rest of your gear is going to fit into one of two categories—things that can change their shape (such as a jacket), and things that can’t (like a pot or water bottle). These subsequently fall into two additional categories: light and heavy.

Arrange by weightTo keep your pack’s weight in line with your center of gravity, it’s better to pack rigid, dense items (rack, cooking gear) in the center of your pack near your back, especially with high-volume packs. Then position lighter items near the top and outer layers of the pack.

For the rest of the tips click here.

Top 10 Technique Tips for Indoor Climbing

Here's a great article from Britain's Climber magazine with tips for indoor climbing, written by Neil Gresham.

TOP 10 TECHNIQUE TIPS FOR INDOOR CLIMBING

1) Footwork Drills

One of the best times to work on your footwork is during your first warm-up climbs. On easy ground you can focus on making each placement perfectly and this will set the standard for the rest of the session. It will also help to reduce the boredom of your warm-up by keeping you mentally challenged. Slow each foot placement down and pause over the hold for a split second while you decide on optimum positioning. Place the foot silently, and without scuffing the wall above the foothold. Try not to re-adjust your feet or to test the footholds excessively. Work on doing this more quickly and intuitively as the warm-up progresses.

2) Basic Body Position for Steep Walls

The movement pattern for overhangs is entirely different to the movement pattern for vertical walls. The way we learn to climb on slabs and vertical walls is with our hips parallel, as if climbing a ladder, but this causes all sorts of problems on the steep stuff. With your hips parallel, your arms will be forced to pull extra-hard and you will constantly feel out of balance. The answer is to twist into the wall with your hips and straighten your arms. The way to do this is by stepping over the ‘centre line’ and using footholds on the left with the outside edge of your right foot (or vice versa). You can then brace your spare foot against the wall to form a stable tripod. Each reach can then be assisted by the rotational motion of your body, rather than doing it all with the arms. It is a myth that you need strong arms for overhanging walls – if you get this movement sequence right, you may barely need to bend your arms at all.

3) Flagging

If you are unable to position yourself using your outside edge on an overhanging wall and find yourself off-balance with your hips parallel, then you have two alternatives to correct yourself: first simply to swap feet and get onto the outside edge of your other foot; but swapping feet can feel precarious and you may find that you need to swap them back again as soon as you’ve made the reach. A much slicker option is simply to ‘flag’ your trailing leg into a balance position, to make the reach and then to come out of the flag. You can either do this by bringing the trailing leg behind the active leg (if the foothold is high) or by bringing it inside the active leg (if the foothold is low – see photo). Note that the ‘inside flag’ is a more efficient option as it enables you to twist in to the wall.  

4) Slapping on Steep Walls

Speed and timing are the two most important variables for dynamic moves. The faster you pull-up, the more momentum you will be able to capture at the ‘deadpoint’ (this is the split-second weightless moment at the top end of a dyno). Thrust upwards with your legs and hips rather than just pulling with your arms. You must then co-ordinate the upward reach precisely with the dead-point – if you are too slow then all momentum will be lost. Another common mistake is to lose pressure on the footholds at the moment when you move your hand, especially when the footholds are poor. Keep thinking feet as you slap and keep your body taught to take the strain. On steep walls you must ‘pull’ with your feet rather than pushing. Curved ‘toe-down’ shoes help you to use your foot like a claw. If you are having difficulty sticking the target hold then try ‘cheating’ into position and hanging it, to gain confidence and learn the position. Your hips should finish vertically below the hold to minimize outward swing. If you really are a ‘static’ climber then try double-handed dynos on a gently overhanging wall with your feet on good footholds to teach yourself the timing sequence.

5) Cutting Loose

It’s always best to avoid cutting loose on overhangs but sometimes you have no choice. The secret is to take one leg off before the other to reduce the severity of the swing. Arch your back as you swing, bend one of your legs up behind you and keep the other in front. Tense your back muscles as hard as you can to kill the swing. Try to use the momentum on the reverse side of the swing to help you lift your feet back up. Aim to re-locate them first time, because another attempt will seriously drain your energy. 



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The Gravity Vault was featured in the May issue of Climbing magazine. The article, titled "Secret Agent Gym," was written by Climbing Reporter, Kevin Corrigan, details how Lucas and Tim were contacted by a defense contractor to train their technicians to perform maintenance on a spy blimb.

The article is below. Be sure to pick up a copy as well!