FITHAM is one of the largest sellers of equipment for fitness, aerobics, table tennis and combat sports in the Czech and Slovak Republics with more than 25 years of tradition.
Fitham SK manager Mr. Matúš Kobulnický answered several questions about their premises in Squarebizz Bory. Matúš Kobulnický.
Why did you select the Squarebizz project?
A number of factors went into our decision to choose Squarebizz. Our goal was to open a new company headquarters in Bratislava that would meet all our needs, such as a showroom with an area of approx. 400 m2, a support warehouse of approx. 400 m2, offices, a service centre, sufficient parking for customers, good accessibility, access for handling goods and all in one place. Squarebizz fulfilled all of these, and we also liked the green roof, energy efficiency and quality of the building. The result was the signing of a contract.
What did your decision-making process involve?
The decision-making process was preceded by a detailed analysis of property in Bratislava. As I mentioned above, we knew exactly what we needed to operate our project. Almost everyone would agree with me that real estate availability in Bratislava is very low. Especially if we had our own idea, we were pressed for time and there was not much room for compromises. That is not to say that we didn’t have a choice and we took what was available, instead I want to say that Squarebizz is a project that has a lot of potential and it is clearly positioned a space that is sorely lacking in the market.
Were you interested in the work shop store concept, or was the ability to make flexible use of the space important to you?
The concept of flexible use of space was key for us. We didn’t want to have a showroom, shop and offices in three different places. Our vision was to have the entire team of employees in one place with an area of around 1000 m2. Here we hit the nail on the head and have everything under one roof.
To what extent will you use the retail, warehousing and exhibition spaces?
We use warehouse space mainly for 3 parts of our business: 1) Supply warehouse for the showroom so that we can have all the displayed products available for immediate sale to the customer without waiting. 2) Shipping warehouse for daily dispatch of e-shop orders. 3) Service centre, as we are the exclusive distributor of our brands and guarantee service and assembly of our fitness equipment and machines for customers. In the showroom, we use every centimetre to display our products and to make on-the-spot sales with expert advice.
Please, can you briefly introduce the operation and services/products that you will offer as part of the Squarebizz project?
Our Fitham brand has been on the market abroad for more than 26 years. At Squarebizz, our operations cover an area of approximately 1,000 m2, where we offer fitness equipment, treadmills, exercise machines, electric bicycles, sports nutrition, equipment for combat sports in the range of more than 100 brands and 10,000 different products. Throughout Slovakia, we provide services such as professional advice, service and installation of equipment directly at the customer’s premises or the delivery of goods. We anticipate the official opening of the showroom at the end of summer 2022, but our services and sales through the fitham.sk e-shop are already up and running 100% in these premises.
What do you expect from the new premises?
From the new premises, we expect convenience and satisfaction for our customers, and our employees in terms of good accessibility, spaciousness, a good feeling in the space, problem-free parking and deliveries from our suppliers. We expect the space to be able to present our line of products well, both in the spacious and well-lit interior, and from the exterior thanks to the large glass shopfront that gives us good visibility from the main road.
How do you rate Squarebizz’s location?
Squarebizz is located on the outskirts of Bratislava. Everyone would probably prefer space in the centre, but if we are realistic, we know that such large-scale premises will always only be on the outskirts of the city. The decisive factor in this distribution of real estate in larger cities is mainly accessibility. And here there is really good accessibility both via the D2 highway and from the surrounding districts such as Dúbravka, Devínska Nová Ves, Lamač and Záhorská Bystrica. Thanks to the very rapidly developing area of Bory, the potential of the location becomes even higher.