[I wrote this while smarting over the reaction of a few people on Facebook to our new prices on Pandora. Being a human, I of course thought most about the criticism instead of the good vibes from a happy community looking forward to a new gym. I still feel the sting a bit when I re-read this. I stand by what I wrote, even though time has passed. It’s a pretty good example of how we approach everything we do.]
With our recently announced increase in price, I've been thinking a lot about what exactly it means when we talk about value. In an obvious kind of way we use value to talk about whether something is worth the price we are paying for it.
Now, it's been great to hear people who are still excited about the new gym despite the price increase. For the most part, I think those people trust us to keep on giving the good value we have always given them. I like to think that in their minds, the price increase is related to an increase in what we are giving them. That's how we think about it too, we honestly think we are giving people more for their money, not less.
On the other side, it smarts to be on the receiving end of people's criticism about our new prices. I think those people make the calculation that the new things we are offering on Pandora won't be worth the extra money.
Let's look at that. If you are a climber, even a dirt bag climber, lead climbing and dedicated bouldering are definitely worth something to you. Everyone expected to pay more for that. Some of the extra cost is coming from things that climbers might not notice, but will definitely feel. We've paid extra for a higher t-nut concentration, so that setting can be as creative and unrestricted as possible. By spreading the rope lines wider than industry standard to avoid crowding we've forgone number of routes for enjoyment. Rather than jam in as many walls (and climbers) as possible, we've maintained open sight lines so that Crag X will feel airy and bright. Less 'inventory' is less revenue, but we chose like climbers, not businessmen. So even if they don't immediately see it, there is pure climbing value there.
The building is another place we can talk about value. We built a building that is environmental sound, built by island businesses. It's designed to look good. We chose a location that is downtown and we did so because we want to add to the vitality of Victoria, not be yet another reason to drive to a concrete box in the middle of a parking lot. Does that have value to you? It does to us. Our HVAC system is state of the art so we can have the cleanest air possible. If the new Crag X doesn't have clean air then it can't be done. We're also using air source heat pumps and all LED lighting. We spent the last 20 years pumping propane powered heat into the atmosphere through our terrible old building and we'd like to try and make up for it now that we can. We picked materials and methods so that it will age more gracefully that John Street did. All this stuff costs, but does it have value?
Even in smaller ways, we've done things that might not have any value for every climber. Our new gym will have four stalls in the women's washroom - more than code requires but the building code doesn't seem to mind women having to line up for the bathroom. The men's will have two urinals and stalls. No more waiting for the washroom. We'll have showers too. And foot baths. (We hope this makes going out for drinks or back to work easier and less stinky) Everything is designed to be easier for us to keep clean. Our glass front opens us to the city and to light. The studio is a bright lovely room built because we saw everybody doing their stretching and bodywork in nooks and crannies all over the gym. Only when it's not needed by climbers will we be running classes. None of this stuff is needed for a climbing gym and it's fair enough if people don't value it.
There are other things we do at Crag X that make a difference to how we feel about running the business. We pay people as well as we can. We never do any hard sell of memberships. We try to treat everyone fairly. Lot's of what we are doing with the new gym is also to make it a nicer place to work. This paragraph sounds like blowing our own horn, but it really is what we strive for. We know we miss the mark too.
Thanks for all the support over the years. It means a lot.