Curves, the women-only 30-minute fitness franchise, once boasted it was the fastest growing franchise chain in history.
Curves now has the dubious distinction of probably being the fastest-failing franchise chain as well.
According to the company’s franchise disclosure document filings, Curves grew to a record 7,877 U.S. franchise locations in 2005.
Just six years later, the Curves system had fallen to just 3523 clubs.
The women’s fitness chain shrunk by more than 50%, a total loss of 4354 U.S. clubs.
Thousands of once-hopeful Curves franchise owners suffered severe personal and financial losses as a result of their failed clubs.
Many who closed prematurely suffered the additional indignity of being harrassed and sued for thousands of dollars in “failure fees” and liquidated damages by Curves International, even after they had lost their entire investments.
(See more than 1000 comments from Curves franchisees here: Curves Franchise Complaints.)
Are you familiar with the Curves franchise? Please share a comment below.
Curves founder Gary Heavin opened the first Curves club in 1992 in Harlingen, Texas, and the first independently owned and operated Curves opened in Paris, Texas, in 1995. The Curves website currently boasts of its rapid growth, fueled by the personal investments of owner-operator franchisees:
Curves caught on like wildfire and opened clubs at an astronomical rate, sometimes more than doubling its number of locations from year to year. This was all done by word of mouth until Curves launched its award-winning national advertising campaign in 2003. What took McDonalds 25 years and Subway 26 years to do—open 7,000 locations—Curves did in under a decade.
The “History” section of the Curves website does not mention that more than half of those locations would close just as quickly.
Franchisees complain that the company failed to innovate, failed to adapt to the changing economy, and failed to keep women interested in the dated, limited workout. Many charge that, during its growth frenzy, Curves oversold and overexpanded, selling clubs in hopelessly small, unsustainable markets and allowing franchisees to cannibalize each other’s sales.
The Curves growth frenzy and subsequent decline spawned a secondary market of Curves “resales,” established Curves franchises sold from original or 2nd or 3rd franchise owners to new owners. When Curves was hot, many owners unloaded their clubs on hopeful new owners for prices that would prove to be exorbitant. As Curves’ struggles became more apparent, many franchisees had trouble selling their clubs at bargain prices as low as $1.00.
CHART: Curves Franchise Resales (Transfers)
| Year | Transfers (Resales) | Difference from prior year | Total Franchise Outlets | Difference from prior year |
| 2000 | 191 | 1258 | ||
| 2001 | 214 | 23 | 2221 | 963 |
| 2002 | 281 | 67 | 3903 | 1682 |
| 2003 | 421 | 140 | 6019 | 2116 |
| 2004 | 729 | 308 | 7419 | 1400 |
| 2005 | 890 | 161 | 7877 | 458 |
| 2006 | 1267 | 377 | 7746 | (131) |
| 2007 | 1069 | (198) | 7090 | (656) |
| 2008 | 792 | (277) | 6247 | (843) |
| 2009 | 552 | (240) | 5214 | (1033) |
| 2010 | 379 | (173) | 4387 | (827) |
| 2011 | 318 | (61) | 3523 | (864) |
In comments on the widespread closures, the management of this private and notoriously non-communicative company blame Curves franchisees for the franchise failures.
In 2009, CEO Gary Heavin was quoted as saying that high SBA loan defaults of Curves franchisee loans were a result of “the overpriced resales of franchises between third parties.” (Source: CURVES: Franchise Resale Buyer Alleges Fraud).
In 2010, then-President Mike Raymond was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that the widespread closures were the result of a corporate effort to “prune the system” to correct the damage from greedy franchisees. According to the Curves WSJ story:
Franchisees and industry experts point to a failure to keep up with changing trends—including more flexible hours for busy working women—cheaper competition and the tough economy as major reasons for Curves’ decline.
The company disagrees with its critics, contending that much of the club closings were intended as part of a plan to “prune the system,” according to Curves President Mike Raymond. Some owners had bought into Curves for the wrong reasons, he says, “they were motivated primarily as investors rather than owners.”
UnhappyFranchisee.com has been covering the troubles and decline of Curves for years. See CURVES: Curves Posts on Unhappy Franchisee.
ARE YOU FAMILIAR GARY HEAVIN, CURVES INTERNATIONAL & THE CURVES FRANCHISE? PLEASE SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
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What more can be said? I loved Curves, I was a member for several years, then I bought two Curves franchises in 2007. Not a great time! Additionally, the previous owner lied and gave me member printouts that included members that had cancelled and had not been purged from the system. When I ran the numbers, all seemed well. Guess what? It was not. At all.
2008 hit and I struggled for the next while. I ended up closing one location and merging the two clubs. That continued on until it was time to renew my franchise. I finally got permission from corporate to extend for one year so that the lease on my location ended the same time as my franchise.
During this time, my husband became terminally ill and all my time that was not at the club was spent with him. He died. I still had the club. I closed in 2014, retired and left the Curves world. There is not one in my new location and I don’t expect one any time soon.
So, what did it cost me? A total of about $500,000. Money I will never get back.
I loved the members and I really loved Curves, but I was screwed from day one. I could never knock down that brick wall that I was up against. I was self-employed for most of my life, and made a reasonable living from everything I did - except Curves!!
Don’t ever buy one of these franchises!!!
Hello. I was a single club owner in North Carolina. I purchased my club because I believed CI was owner by a Christian couple with a desire to achieve success through hard work, a safe, nurturing club atmosphere and strong Christian beliefs. This is why our members joined.
When Curves new owners decided to flip and focus on the other side of the coin there was nothing left for us. They wanted me to post a life-size photo of Jillian Michaels and tell my members, "she is a housewife and mother of two just like us." BULL...I am not married to a woman and did not rely on an alternate plan to have children. Plus I don't wear provocative clothes when working our nor do I swear or otherwise yell obscenities. When I sent CI a heartfelt letter explaining how their mission statement no longer supported the one in place when I purchased my club and I would not support theirs; they simply removed me for all websites like we did not exist. So I closed the club, by the books. This was back in 2013. This week I learned they have turned the account over to a credit collector and charged me with $28,000. bad debt. If there is still a lawsuit wagon I sure would like to jump on it!
I joined Curves in my 60’s and had never worked out in my life!!!
I absolutely loved it.I only went about 6 weeks /2 days a week and then had to move where there wasn’t a Curves.In that short time I lost a pant size.I am back home again and would dearly love to see Curves come back to our small town.
I feel self conscious where men go.
I am a random woman living in the US. My dream is to open an all female gym and was hoping to make it a franchisable business. To say the least, these comments touched my heart so much that now I'm WORRIED for all the lives I would be impacting if I did go down this road.
I have many personal reasons and beliefs why an all female style gym would be amazing, especially around the country - but I would never want to put anyone in these kinds of situations.
I owed a Curves and was part of the first round territory sales. As a new franchise as with many they had not “worked out the bugs” meaning there were conflicts they hadn’t anticipated and didn’t know how to solve. I ran into one of those with the owner in the town next to me and it was handled poorly, to my detriment. I decided to sell. I didn’t sell at a crazy amount although I will say there were a lot of people I met that had no business experience that would come and ask my advise. I also sold right before they started the advertising fees. It’s a great concept for many women that are not comfortable going to a “regular gym.
I owned one curves franchise from 2006 to 2013. I made the horrendous mistake of buying a second club in 2010 and closed its doors in 2012.
My failure was in the heighth of the sale to North Castle. All of a sudden everything had to be changed. The colors had to be the same the signage had be the same. Even the coaches were supposed to lose weight or resign. We were supposed to push, push, push for sales not only of memberships, but of bars, and the diet program, and the clothing line.
The small town atmosphere was changed in a blink of an eye. I lost close to $100,000
I was also sued for outstanding franchise fees that could not be collected because I was closed. I sold machines that were in very good condition, some less than 2 years old, for pennies on the dollar.
It was ugly and I felt like such a failure. What was once a fun, exciting workout atmosphere that benefited so many women became all about doing it exactly as some big shot in a big city thought was the right thing - no the only thing, to do to, to be successful.
Having a new snap fitness come to our small town offering memberships for $10 and access to the club 24/7 finished me.
I managed a Curves for 5 years. Loved the plan and enjoyed all the great friends I made. My owner was great. I think Curves is especially good for those 50 and over. It is low impact. The more you put in, the better results you will have. Good luck to those who are still trying!!
Thanks for report! but I couldn't find out how many clubs they have in America currently. It's not on their website either :(
I am in the UK and in the process of taking over an existing Curves franchise. Despite the challenges of COVID the current owners have managed to build the club back up into a profitable position and I hope that in signing a 5 year franchise agreement I am not making a big mistake! Are there any other UK owners who can comment on the current challenges they are facing?
Went to curves for a while, long time back. I
really enjoyed the workouts, the machines made a real difference. I lost weight, gained muscle, strength and confidence. But the programs kept changing. The managers got a bit aggressive about the new owners, wanted me to to purchase stuff. I didn't feel comfortable there any more. I believe that was when Avon got involved. I miss the machines. They made a difference.