Having acquired business after business, seamlessly integrating staff and suitable skillsets, DW Sports now has over 3000 employees and a dual brand platform that’s getting stronger nationwide. Escape Your Limits talks to DW Sports director, Scott Best, about managing growth, momentum and more.

Watch the full episode on YouTube – https://youtu.be/LMt44nK3EnQ

Starting out as a contractor working on an oil refinery, the taste of earning money meant Scott put off university, instead concentrating on revolutionising the company, rising to success before heading up the business 12 years later.

Scott’s father-in-law and DW CEO, Dave Whelan,built 450 stores under the JJB brand – a fitness giant of retail space. On the back of this sports venture, he expanded into a portfolio of gym and health clubs. Scott joined Dave in buying back the health clubs side of JJB to form DW Sports after Dave left the company. JJB was subsequently bought by Sports Direct and went into administration.

Between them, Scott and Dave built this portfolio to 71 health clubs before buying another seven old LA Fitness locations following their acquisition by PureGym. Then followed DW Sports’ acquisition of Fitness First.

Gaining strength and experience with every acquisition, DW Sports is now in the position of putting the best of every outfit into practice for the ultimate in exercise experience.

Most recently, Scott has been paramount in the process of DW Sports acquiring Fitness First UK. In this new evolution, Scott’s ability of establishing a sense of community through fitness makes it an acquisition supergroup that can do no wrong.

With 55 joint sites with retail and leisure club, 123 clubs, and stand alone retail locations, DW Sports knows the power of dual branding benefits and offering tailored experiences in the right locations.

On top of these acquisitions and developments, Scott has also set up a successful boutique offering in Best’s Bootcamp – a 50-minute full-body workout with treadmills and functional fitness equipment, and Best Cycle – a 45-minute low impact calorie burn spin cycle session. 

Episode Highlights: 

• How to balance business with education, what you can learn on the job and through experience, where to follow particular career paths and how to deal with the regrets of missing either option available.
• Why merging business opportunities together is much more beneficial than multiple production / process silos in leveraging customer experience and opportunities.
• How to recover after overexpansion and when you need to consolidate your business for the greater good.
• The ways in which you can benefit from a consolidated middle market through maintaining quality service and investment.
• Learn the importance of integration when bringing two cultures and management styles together, as opposed to dictating one overriding plan.

 

Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Scott Best of DW Sports…

 

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