Lowther Rinse Repeat

Thanks Lululemon - Free Endorphins Class! September 8, 2008

If you live in Vancouver, Lululemon is practically synonymous with the city.  You don’t have to go more than a block in pretty much any neighbourhood to find someone decked out in head to toe in Lululemon.  It’s part of the active lifestyle that is pervasive in Vancouver.  The clothes are incredibly comfortable and the yoga pant are very flattering.

I was in the Lululemon on Robson street the other week buying a rain jacket for running when the girl helping me in the change room recognized me from a previous visit.  She asked me if I was interested in joining a clinic that they were hosting.  What they did, was ask 20 people who came in to the store if they wanted to take part in a four week - 8 sessions in total - bootcamp style class called Endorphins, that is taught by the owners own personal trainer. The best part about it, is that it’s free.

I was quite surprised that they were offering this for free and jumped at the opportunity to participate in the class.  To sign up for a 4 week bootcamp class, the cost is between $200 and $300. Anyway that you look at it, it’s a great deal for me.  I’m not sure exactly what is involved in an Endorphins class, but I’m definitely looking forward to going to my first one tomorrow.

It got me to thinking about why they were doing this.  They didn’t know anything about who I was, other than they recognized me from a previous visit and I was offered this before I’d purchased anything - and they didn’t have a purchase requirement in order to participate.

All to often these days, companies want you to jump through hoops in order to partake in a promotion that they are offering with all sorts of small print in there to catch you on the back end.   Think about all of those “free” digital camera’s that the telecom’s give you to sign up to their internet or phone services.  They are never free and you’re better off just buying one yourself.

There isn’t anything involved with this offer that Lululemon gave me.  What they have created is a loyal customer who is more than willing to tell all of my friends - and in my case readers - about this.  The next time I need to buy athletic gear, you can be assured that I won’t be hitting the Puma store on Granville or the closest big box sports store, I’ll be heading down to my local Lululemon.  If I wasn’t a loyal consumer before, you can be sure that I am now.

So other companies out there, you can take a cue from this.  Don’t make your customers jump through hoops to participate in your promotions.  You’re far more apt to create a loyal customer by treating them well than by trying to trick them with your “free” promotions.  I know that I loyally avoid several companies now due to their ‘free’ promotion giveaway’s.

Thanks Lululemon!

Happy Birthday Monica August 18, 2008

On Sunday, I spent the day at Kits beach celebrating Miss Monica’s birthday.  It was a great time all around.  The weather couldn’t have been nicer and the people there were great company. For some reason though, they setup on the grass amidst a bunch of trees that created some evil shade!  They said something about having to have a picnic table for the scads of food that was there for us to nibble on. But it was still slow quiet chinese water style torture being that close to the sand on such a nice day without actually being on the sand:)

Chris made some decadent Raspberry Mojito’s for us to imbibe and Tris brought some interesting bread in a can and promised me fluffer nutter sandwiches if I make it over to the Redwerks office.  He promises me that the sandwich isn’t dirty like it sounds - that it’s a marshmallow and peanutbutter sandwich.  He assures me that it’s the best sandwich ever - I’ll let you know what I think if I ever get around to trying it.

It was great seeing everyone and chatting with everyone who was there - Beth, Tanya, Tris, Matthew, John, Monica, Joe, Chris and a bunch of other people who I’m currently drawing a blank on.  I blame it on being a Monday.

Beth and I had a great time getting down to our bikini’s and laying in the sun - or what sun we could carve out amongst the shade.  Check out the cute pics that Tris took of me while I was there.

Photo Credits: Tris Hussey

What Activities Are You Doing This Week?

So my second month of bootcamp ended last Friday and I had fabulous results.  I loved everything about bootcamp and would absolutely do it again in a heart beat.  Unfortunately, I can’t quite justify spending $200 again this month to do it again - if it was $100 a month, I think I’d go year round, but alas it’s not.

So myself and another girl I met at bootcamp are planning on going to Steve Nash.  She’s out of town this week, so when she gets back next week, I’m going to try it out with a free week and sign up if I like it. She already has a membership there for $75 per month - which I am willing to pay if I like it.

That leaves me with nothing athletic planned this week and I really don’t want to slack for the week.  I’ve been thinking that I may see if the World Gym has a free pass I can use and try it out - it would be my backup gym if for some reason Steve Nash doesn’t work out.  It is less expensive and far closer to my house, but I wouldn’t have a workout buddy there.  If any of you workout there and would like a gym buddy for the week - ping me, I’d love to join you!

My other option is to continue to run the seawall or to play tennis.  Unfortunately I’m not that great at tennis and don’t have a tennis partner.  If you live downtown and would like to play with me let me know - as long as you can deal with my beginner status.

So this is my dilemma.  What would you do?  Are there any other outdoor activities that you’d recommend for one of the last weeks of summer?