24 hour access clubs are opening all over the world like wildfire with franchises like Snap Fitness and Anytime Fitness leading the trend. Many independent clubs are following suit to be able to expand their membership base without a great deal of additional costs (the utilities cost may go up a bit, but there are no additional personnel or rent costs).
What seems to be a roadblock for many club owners considering a 24/7 format is the potential liability of someone hurting themselves without supervision. We suggest adding a PACE circuit training program- Since there is no fixed load or eccentric resistance "negative", it is virtually impossible to hurt yourself with PACE hydraulic equipment. Instead, PACE features double concentric "positive" resistance which works opposing muscle groups for an intense, full body workout. And since PACE's work/rest circuit format combines strength and cardio workouts into a time efficient 30 minute program, it can fit into the busiest of lifestyles.
A 24/7 PACE program will not only increase your potential membership base and profits, it will also help set your club apart for the competition. Curves clubs have been forbidden from offering 24 hour access. Although some Curves clubs have gone ahead and implemented a 24/7 format, they are in violation of their franchise agreements and have been told the cease and desist.
For more information, email pacefitness@att.net or call 888-604.2244.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Snap Fitness adds PACE Equipment
We are proud to announce that Snap Fitness (www.snapfitness.com) is adding PACE equipment to their larger clubs. Here is what Peter Taunton, the CEO of Snap Fitness has to say about PACE:
"We at Snap Fitness are proud to be the first national 24 hour access fitness company to feature hydraulic circuit training equipment in our clubs. We researched equipment suppliers thoroughly and decided to go with PACE, the best hydraulic equipment in the industry. We will be featuring the PACE circuit in women's only areas of our larger clubs to provide a superior alternative to the women's franchise clubs out there. Our members will not hit plateaus with PACE as they do with their current non-adjustable women's club equipment- also, once they feel comfortable, they have access to the rest of the club and a wide variety of equipment."
Want to get a huge edge over Curves? Consider a 24 hour access club with PACE equipment.
"We at Snap Fitness are proud to be the first national 24 hour access fitness company to feature hydraulic circuit training equipment in our clubs. We researched equipment suppliers thoroughly and decided to go with PACE, the best hydraulic equipment in the industry. We will be featuring the PACE circuit in women's only areas of our larger clubs to provide a superior alternative to the women's franchise clubs out there. Our members will not hit plateaus with PACE as they do with their current non-adjustable women's club equipment- also, once they feel comfortable, they have access to the rest of the club and a wide variety of equipment."
Want to get a huge edge over Curves? Consider a 24 hour access club with PACE equipment.
Monday, August 29, 2011
PACE Fitness Announces New Website
We at PACE Fitness are happy to announce our new updated website at www.pacecircuittraining.com. With the growing number of sales in to senior fitness facilities, 24 hour access clubs, weight loss centers as well as rehab centers and sports conditioning facilities; we wanted our website to more closely reflect the wide range of fitness levels and applications our PACE circuit training program can accommodate.
We still enjoy a nice business selling in to towns where a Curves for Women club has just closed, but it seems our customer base is expanding as more and more 24 hour access clubs, senior fitness centers and weight loss/exercise studios are spreading across the country.
Please check out our new website to see if PACE circuit training can work for your facility.
We still enjoy a nice business selling in to towns where a Curves for Women club has just closed, but it seems our customer base is expanding as more and more 24 hour access clubs, senior fitness centers and weight loss/exercise studios are spreading across the country.
Please check out our new website to see if PACE circuit training can work for your facility.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Why is the Curves Franchise in Such Bad Shape?
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/
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/
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Still Thinking of a Curves Franchise?
I just saw this post on UnHappyFranchisee.com from a Curves owner:
Author: n
Comment:
Ive managed and owned a Curves for 13 years I love my job but Curves over sold territory (5 clubs in a 25 mile radius) around me taking my membership from 800 to 300 in two years.one club opened 2 miles from me on my border her territory town was ten miles away. Shes closer to my town border than her own.They never enforced dues transfers, now the very contracts I sold my members saying their dues will never go up as long as they are a Curves member..is now up to the transferred to clubs to honor or not... I get no protection no non compete from Curves.. Now with the economy cannibalizing my membership, I will not be renewing my agreement. Love the concept of Curves (by the way I was at the training when Gary swore he would never increase the cost of a Curves franchise...) Tired of being lied to, and not supported by corporate
No comments necessary....
Author: n
Comment:
Ive managed and owned a Curves for 13 years I love my job but Curves over sold territory (5 clubs in a 25 mile radius) around me taking my membership from 800 to 300 in two years.one club opened 2 miles from me on my border her territory town was ten miles away. Shes closer to my town border than her own.They never enforced dues transfers, now the very contracts I sold my members saying their dues will never go up as long as they are a Curves member..is now up to the transferred to clubs to honor or not... I get no protection no non compete from Curves.. Now with the economy cannibalizing my membership, I will not be renewing my agreement. Love the concept of Curves (by the way I was at the training when Gary swore he would never increase the cost of a Curves franchise...) Tired of being lied to, and not supported by corporate
No comments necessary....
Thursday, May 5, 2011
"I wish I had Known" - another Curves owner
I heard this again today for perhaps the thousandth time- from another Curves owner who wished she had done more investigating before getting involved with a Curves franchise. She is soon going to be closing her club, but wanted to look into opening a non-franchise club to be able to continue to service her members. When she found out she could buy a PACE circuit for over $10,000.00 less than the Curves’ start-up package- for superior equipment and no franchise fees, she was obviously very happy. But she was also very frustrated with the time, money and hard work wasted on Curves with absolutely no support from the corporate office.
I told her perhaps the best way to look at it was a learning experience; she now knows what does not work and what not to do. She can now expand upon her hard work over the years and reap the profits of truly owning her own business. I also encouraged her to look at the positive things she accomplished; she helped many people make some positive changes in their lives. She perhaps did not have the best product to offer or tools to work with, but she can now expand on what she started.
I have helped hundreds of former Curves club owners, employees or members successfully open their own non-franchise club; if you know of a Curves owner of a club that has recently closed, or soon to be closed, please pass along my contact information.
I told her perhaps the best way to look at it was a learning experience; she now knows what does not work and what not to do. She can now expand upon her hard work over the years and reap the profits of truly owning her own business. I also encouraged her to look at the positive things she accomplished; she helped many people make some positive changes in their lives. She perhaps did not have the best product to offer or tools to work with, but she can now expand on what she started.
I have helped hundreds of former Curves club owners, employees or members successfully open their own non-franchise club; if you know of a Curves owner of a club that has recently closed, or soon to be closed, please pass along my contact information.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Large Club Owners- Consider a Sattelite Studio
It is no secret that women-only circuit training clubs saturated the country a few years ago. The Curves for Women franchise at one time boasted over 10,000 locations. Although thousands of Curves clubs have closed in the last few years (for a number of reasons; over-saturation of markets, unqualified owners, lack of support, high franchise fees, inferior equipment, tight franchise restrictions, etc.), they still are a significant factor in the fitness industry across the country. There is no doubt that they are still a thorn in the side of larger coed facilities by taking away thousands of potential members. With their message of “no intimidation” and the time efficiency of a 30 minute workout, these clubs appeal to the needs of today’s deconditioned, busy Baby Boomers.
Some large clubs have attempted to counter these circuit training clubs by offering their own “express” type of circuits within their facilities using conventional weight stack machines borrowed from their main workout area. However, the problem of getting the intimidated person in the front door still remains. Some progressive club owners have opened their own satellite circuit training/weight loss studios to attract the out-of-shape and intimidated market and act as “feeder” clubs into the main club. With satellite clubs, when a member reaches a certain level of fitness and gets over the initial intimidation, it can be an easy upgrade into the “mother” club. One of the biggest problems that Curves clubs face is a high drop-out rate when members hit a plateau because of their non-adjustable equipment. They have nothing to offer when a members says "now what?".
Low overhead is a major key to the success of these circuit training studios. Rents and personnel costs for 1,200- 2,000 square feet facilities are obviously much less than those of 20,000+ square foot clubs. For example, if you assume the rent for a small facility to be about $2,500.00 per month and if you have four part time people working 20 hours per week each at a rate of $10.00 per hour, your overhead would be approximately $6,000.00 per month. Typically, a small women’s circuit training club will charge $39.00- $49.00 a month for memberships; the average club needs 125-150 members to break even. Much higher fees can be charged if a weight loss program is incorporated into memberships. Fees of $499.00- $599.00 are not unusual for 8-12 weeks of a weight loss program- with no exercise component.
Granted, small studios will not generate the profit dollars made by larger clubs, but percentage-wise, these small clubs can be much more profitable (and much less expensive to set up and staff). Besides enjoying new profit, the key factor to remember is that members of these small clubs can be transitioned into the main club when they are ready- a feeder system for those people who would normally not join a large club. Members of Curves have no where to go when they reach a plateau.
Some large clubs have attempted to counter these circuit training clubs by offering their own “express” type of circuits within their facilities using conventional weight stack machines borrowed from their main workout area. However, the problem of getting the intimidated person in the front door still remains. Some progressive club owners have opened their own satellite circuit training/weight loss studios to attract the out-of-shape and intimidated market and act as “feeder” clubs into the main club. With satellite clubs, when a member reaches a certain level of fitness and gets over the initial intimidation, it can be an easy upgrade into the “mother” club. One of the biggest problems that Curves clubs face is a high drop-out rate when members hit a plateau because of their non-adjustable equipment. They have nothing to offer when a members says "now what?".
Low overhead is a major key to the success of these circuit training studios. Rents and personnel costs for 1,200- 2,000 square feet facilities are obviously much less than those of 20,000+ square foot clubs. For example, if you assume the rent for a small facility to be about $2,500.00 per month and if you have four part time people working 20 hours per week each at a rate of $10.00 per hour, your overhead would be approximately $6,000.00 per month. Typically, a small women’s circuit training club will charge $39.00- $49.00 a month for memberships; the average club needs 125-150 members to break even. Much higher fees can be charged if a weight loss program is incorporated into memberships. Fees of $499.00- $599.00 are not unusual for 8-12 weeks of a weight loss program- with no exercise component.
Granted, small studios will not generate the profit dollars made by larger clubs, but percentage-wise, these small clubs can be much more profitable (and much less expensive to set up and staff). Besides enjoying new profit, the key factor to remember is that members of these small clubs can be transitioned into the main club when they are ready- a feeder system for those people who would normally not join a large club. Members of Curves have no where to go when they reach a plateau.
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