This was the topic of a recent Wall Street Journal Online article (see http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576432062058517684.html?mod=googlenews_wsj). Curves CEO Gary Heavin blames it on the franchisees, "Unfortunately, not every independent business owner is willing to do the hard work that owning a business requires,". He also say that Curves "attracted a lot of the wrong people—investors who wanted to make a buck or get rich quick." (How dare those greedy club owners want to make money!)
Quite frankly, if I were a Curves franchisee, I would be very insulted. Instead of admitting that they over-saturated territories, charged exorbitantly high fees, forced inferior, non-adjustable equipment on franchisees and gave very little support, they put the blame on the club owners. Yeah, right; it's the fault of the club owners that they went from over 10,000 clubs to less than 4,000 in a few years.
He now says that he is going to "re-invent" Curves with a new weight loss program. Read: He is going to shove more products down the throat of the franchisees.
The failure of Curves comes as no surprise to fitness industry experts; this was predicted years ago when they first appeared on the scene with non-adjustable equipment and a one-size-fits-all program.
If you have ever known anyone who has worked for or worked out at Curves, the most common thing you hear members say is that they hit a plateau. Anyone in the fitness industry will tell you that progressive resistance and variety are the keys to long-term results and member retention. Here is a quote from a former Curves club owner who closed her club and lost everything, “Members hit a plateau, stopped getting results, got bored and dropped out- membership fell off dramatically”.
To see what other former (and existing) Curves owners have to say about the corporate office, visit http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-robert-lays-story/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment