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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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Informer
by Andrew Tellijohn
October 2004

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Health


Fitness First owner
pursues mission
in ‘polluted’ industry

“I want to transform the fitness industry. It’s so polluted,” says Steve Ritz, owner of Fitness First.

He holds a master’s degree in exercise physiology, and used to train professional and college athletes, including the Minnesota Vikings.

He’s operated Fitness First in Chaska since 1998. Clients are seen only by appointment, just like other health care operations, and they pay in advance. “We formulate an exercise prescription” for clients, as Ritz puts it.

The emphasis on quality seems to be working. Ritz says he achieved 18 percent growth in sales last year. He has five or six subcontractors working as trainers.

He disdains personal trainers who have what he calls light credentials. “That’s quite insulting to me,” he says, that people can get certification in a short period of time.

He says with unlimited capital, he’d want to expand. “Someone asked me if I won the lottery, what would I do,” Ritz says. “So if money was not an issue, I’d start 10 places around town” with the same high-quality focus.

Steve Ritz, Fitness First: 952.448.4322

Events

Beth Ewen

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