The Curves franchise on Thorold Stone Road, Niagra Falls reportedly closed overnight.
According to the Niagra Falls Review, members reportedly “worked out the day before and no one said anything and then came in the next morning and it was all dark and empty.”
The sign on the door read: "Attention Curves members. Sorry closed for business. Thank you for your past support."
Members complained that they had just paid for the month and were given no notice whatsoever. However, members are free to continue their memberships at other area Curves clubs.
CI’s main concern: Finding a new owner
The Niagra Falls Review interviewed Becky Frusher, head of corporate communications at the Curves International Inc. head office in Texas:
She said the company will try to find a new owner for the women-only club so members are not disrupted.
"We regret to see any club close," she said. "Our main concern is getting the club back up and running, so that members can continue to enjoy the health benefits of our workout."
Shouldn’t Curves’ main concern be determining the reason for the failure?
While it may seem to members that their Curves franchise club closed overnight, it’s unlikely that it did.
After all, a franchise owner had a significant investment sunk into that club. The odds are that they have tens of thousands of dollars in outstanding liabilities… money owed to CI, to their landlord, and to other creditors. Isn’t it more likely that the club closed after a long and protracted effort to keep the club profitable and open?
The more than 500 comments posted here by struggling Curves franchise owners support that conclusion.
Shouldn’t Curves International’s priority be to determine whether the Niagra market could not support that club, rather than to put another owner in the same situation?
And if they find a new owner who reopens the club… will the surrounding clubs then lose the members they took in from the closed club?
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Does anyone know of clubs that closed, were resold, then closed again?
Conversely, does anyone know of any clubs that closed, were resold and reopened, and did well?
I know of many clubs that closed or on the verge of closing that were sold and reopened only to go bankrupt and close again. I do not know of any that clubs that closed, reopened and did well. It would be my opinion that no territory that closed should be resold until the management of Curves has changed. As long as Howie is in charge of this franchise nothing is ever going to change. It has been estimated that there are only 3250 to 3500 clubs that are still open. A far cry from the 10,000 that were once open and that curves international still brags on their web site to have in operation. They are still closing at record numbers and it will be interesting to see if this franchise will still be around nest year.
At the McCord Business Brokers Web site, my state has only FOUR clubs listed for sale under the company's exclusive listings. Years ago, there would have been DOZENS of listings.
The prices for the four clubs are $29,900, $29,900, $15,000 and $40,000. Years ago, those prices would have been in the six figures. Now these poor owners are desperate to unload these clubs at pathetically low prices, just to be rid of them.
The bottom really has dropped out at Curves. How many are left?
no one knows for sure except Howie but it appears somewhere between 3200 to 3500 at tops.
If you are planning to close your club and notify Curves International of your intent they are now sending out emails that tell owners closing is not an option. What a joke. Where was Howie when things started to go south for the clubs? All, he did was try to extort 10,000 dollars from each owner who closed. Now he is trying to tell owners closing g isn't a option.! Pray tell Howie what is the option? Maybe you should have listened to the owners who were in the trenches when they asked for your help. If closing is no option why are you Howie trying to force the 24/7 clubs to close. All they have tried to do is to work out side the box to keep their doors open. But since it wasn't your idea screw them terminate their contract. Is this going to be the next big lawsuit, Howie? Looks that way and it may be the final act for Howie as Curves is going down the drain and it appears its to be picking up steam.
Interesting development. McCord Business Brokers, which used to sell ONLY Curves clubs, is now selling Curves clubs and NINE OTHER fitness franchises, including 123Fit. They've also done away with the the free "For Sale By Owner" listings for Curves.
Guess the Curves listings were drying uyp, so McCord had to start offering OTHER clubs for sale. See for yourself.
http://www.mccordbusinessbrokers.com//index.asp?choice=fsboListing
Wiped Out:
That is interesting. However, all of those fitness chains have a single owner: Diversified Health & Fitness.
Diversified buys up franchise fitness chains that are in decline or even on their death beds. They enforce the contracts of the remaining franchisees and market franchises from their menu of different brands.
We've written several stories on Diversified H&F, including a recent one about their use of discredited success statistics in their franchise marketing, and the fact that a large % of the franchisees they still use for testimonials have closed their clubs:
DIVERSIFIED HEALTH: Testimonials From Failed Franchisees
https://unhappyfranchisee.mystagingwebsite.com/diversified-health-testimonials-from-failed-franchisees/.
I believe there were rumors over a year ago about Diversified Health taking over Curves but most owners at that time wrote it off as a bad joke. Unfortunately it may just come true if Curves clubs continue to close. Since March is usually the biggest month for new membership sign ups as a result of the food drive . It will be interesting to see how the remaining clubs did and if the numbers of new sign up is low we will see clubs closing picking up.
None of the clubs that have closed in my county has reopened.
wipedout,
what country are you from and how are the clubs doing there?