Medicine Hat is getting a Planet Fitness, and it's going inside the Walmart.
Construction is underway at the Walmart at 2075 Strachan Road SE, where the fitness chain plans to open a 16,000-square-foot club in the fall of 2026.
What's going in
The club will carry the standard Planet Fitness setup: a mix of cardio and strength gear, including treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, and plate-loaded strength machines.
Members on the higher-tier Black Card will also get the chain's recovery amenities, HydroMassage loungers, massage chairs, and other spa-style extras.
The pitch, in the company's words, is accessibility. Planet Fitness built its brand on low monthly fees and a deliberately unintimidating atmosphere aimed at casual and first-time gymgoers rather than serious lifters. "We believe fitness should feel welcoming, encouraging and accessible to everyone," said Mike Shapiro, senior vice-president of operations at IGNITE Fitness Holdings, the franchisee opening the location. The company is framing the Walmart setting as a convenience play, a workout you can fold into a grocery run.
Who's actually behind it
The location isn't run by Planet Fitness directly. It's operated by IGNITE Fitness Holdings, one of the largest Planet Fitness franchise groups, which runs more than 140 clubs across Canada and several U.S. states. IGNITE is owned by TowerBrook Capital Partners, an international investment firm.
That's typical for the brand. Planet Fitness is overwhelmingly franchise-operated, with roughly 2,900 clubs and about 21.5 million members worldwide as of this spring. The Medicine Hat club is part of the chain's continued push into Canadian markets.
The Walmart-gym trend
A gym inside a Walmart might sound unusual, but it's becoming a deliberate strategy.
As traditional retail square footage gets reworked, big-box stores have increasingly leased space to services that draw repeat foot traffic, and gyms fit that neatly: members come several times a week, and some inevitably shop while they're there. For the gym, it means a high-visibility location with parking and an existing flow of people already built in. For a mid-sized city like Medicine Hat, it also means a new fitness option without a new building going up.
What it means for Medicine Hat's gym scene
A national budget chain landing in a city the size of Medicine Hat isn't nothing for the gyms already here.
Planet Fitness competes almost entirely on price. Its memberships are among the cheapest in the industry, often advertised in the range of $15 to $30 a month, and the model is built on signing up large numbers of casual members, many of whom rarely come in. That's a different market than most independent gyms and specialty studios, which tend to charge more and compete on coaching, community, or specific disciplines like lifting, CrossFit, or classes.
For Medicine Hat, the arrival cuts both ways. For residents, it means a new low-cost option and more competition, which can be good news for anyone who's found local memberships pricey or been put off by a more hardcore gym atmosphere. For existing operators, a budget giant moving in, with Walmart's foot traffic and a national marketing budget behind it, is real pressure, particularly on the entry-level, price-sensitive customers who are easiest to lure away on cost alone. How much it actually shifts things will depend on price, and on whether Hatters treat it as a replacement for what they've got or simply one more option in town.
What's still unknown
A few practical things haven't been announced yet.
The company hasn't given a specific opening date beyond "fall 2026," and hasn't released membership pricing for the Medicine Hat club, though Planet Fitness's standard rates are among the lowest in the industry. Hours, staffing and the exact layout within the Walmart also haven't been detailed. Anyone wanting to be notified can typically sign up for pre-opening updates through the Planet Fitness website as the date nears.
Sources:
Planet Fitness / IGNITE Fitness Holdings news release, June 2026
Statements from Mike Shapiro, Senior Vice-President of Operations, IGNITE Fitness Holdings
Planet Fitness corporate figures (membership and club counts, as of March 31, 2026)
