The historic function of membership clubs to stratify cities by gender, race, and class continues today.
Aman New York, which opens in 2022, offers memberships with an initiation fee of $200,000 plus annual dues. Exclusive access to Casa Cruz, which opened the same year, cost between $250,000 and $500,000. Major Food Group’s ZZ’s Club costs a relatively modest $20,000 to join and $10,000 a year, but that’s because the company’s celebrity-loved restaurant is “the world’s first and only private his-location carbon.” This is the cost of entering.
At the other end of the spectrum, Verci memberships have a DIY college campus feel, ranging from $200 to $300 per month, with no joining fee. “We use this as a third space, a shared living room, where we gather about 120 people, all young, creative and artistic people,” said Ananth Vasudevan, co-founder of Velshi. Ta. A former office space in Lower Manhattan last year.
The rapid growth was accompanied by some sputtering. One of the most famous clubs, Soho House, announced late last year that it would stop accepting new members at its spaces in Los Angeles, New York and London after complaints about overcrowding. With over 180,000 members and over 40 locations around the world, he founded the company in 1995 and helped pave the way for the club to become what it is today. In 2021, Soho House held an initial public offering amid aggressive expansion efforts, but has recently considered going private again.
Will the current hip club rush stand the test of time?
‘endurance’
Velshi was able to secure physical space in downtown Manhattan in part because commercial real estate was affordable, Vasudevan said. “Being able to have a little bit of influence on that front was really helpful for us, especially starting this,” he says, adding that his company is “rather than a welcoming environment. He added that the space had been “renovated” to make it feel like a good environment. It’s like a corporate environment. ”
