Nordic Wellness, a new health club operation in Sweden, opened its first club on 7 January this year.

Located in Gothenburg, the 570sq m club – which cost US$500,000 to build – targets a middle-aged audience with a wellness, rather than a fitness, philosophy.

As owner Henrik Ask explains: “The club has a friendly, cosy environment. It’s hard to explain, but it feels more like a hotel than a gym.”

The club has a Technogym-equipped fitness suite offering cardio and circuit training, Kinesis, core training and body balance, as well as mind-body classes such as yoga and pilates. Membership costs US$60 a month.

There is also one spa treatment room, which is open to the public.

Ask plans to open one or two new sites a year, starting with more in Gothenburg – the second will open in September this year and the third in January 2010 – before moving on to Stockholm and Malmö, then abroad to cities such as Copenhagen in Denmark.