Interview With Elodie Garamond, Founder of Tigre

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Alex , director of the LiveMentor school, met Élodie Garamond, founder of Tigre Yoga Clubs . In a few years, this mother of 2 children has managed to make her various centers, in Paris and Normandy, essential addresses for Yoga enthusiasts. It opened its first center at the end of 2013 in Paris, in the heart of the Golden Triangle, in a magnificent setting of 600m² . From the start, Élodie created a real concept : you can practice yoga, meditation, pilates, floor barre and finish with a massage and a detox juice. The kind of unusual place that appeals to Parisians! ?? 5 years later, Le  Tigre Yoga Club continues to develop, with a concept that still attracts as much. At the beginning of 2018, it has 5 centers: 3 in Paris, 1 in Neuilly and 1 in Deauville. Alex couldn't resist asking him a few questions, which you should particularly like! ? WE ARE IN YOUR FIRST YOGA CENTER IN PARIS, WHICH IS MORE THAN 600 M²: HOW DID YOU CHOOSE IT? It was a crush: it's a place we visited thanks to my father-in-law. When we visited it, it was not for rent and the premises were intended to be transformed into offices.

But we absolutely wanted it: it was the ideal place for what we wanted to do! At the time, I was pregnant and therefore very stubborn: I never gave up! By dint of insisting daily, we ended up having it! HOW DO YOU OPERATE FOR YOUR CENTRES? DO YOU RENT THEM? We never take over existing businesses. We prefer to create the commerciality entirely, which costs a little more during the works, because we have to create the ERP status (establishment open to the public). This is Mobile Phone Number what we did to create our  business. HOW DID YOU ASSESS THE COST OF THE INITIAL INVESTMENT? In a very simple way, we made a Business Plan to evaluate the  cost of the work. We observed that it was necessary to have 2 years of WCR (Working Capital Requirements) before breaking even. Well, the Business Plan is worth what it is and it is made not to be respected… but in the end, we did not fall far from our forecasts, so that helped us a lot! HOW WERE THE OTHER TIGER YOGA CENTERS BORN? It happened gradually. After our first centre, a year later we opened the Mini Tigre, an annex dedicated to children: a yoga-style kids club. Then, we had an opportunity to open in Paris on the left bank, again a year later. We were then offered to open one in Normandy.



We all grew up in Normandy in my family, so it seemed natural to us to open a branch there! And then we were offered Neuilly… Each time, it was based on our favorite places in particular and on the opportunities that presented themselves to us. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO OPEN THE FIRST CENTER? It happened very quickly. I was working in a communication agency at the end of July. At that time, we were pregnant. I gave birth in September, and we opened our first centre,  Le Tigre Yoga Club, at the end of November! I kept my job while advancing on my project: I supervised the work, chose the teachers and created the concept. And I conceived my baby, all of a sudden. At this point in my life, I confess that I no longer slept too much. I was so determined! We didn't ask ourselves any questions: we were fully in the action . We had a form of increased energy and naivety, we had the impression that anything was possible . My entourage was a little doubtful and asked us: were we sure we wanted to open both a yoga center AND a wellness area with massages AND a juice bar...? YES YES YES. Absolutely ! My entourage was also disturbed by not being able to fit our project into a well-established box.