So there is this Gym in surrey, that ran into financial troubles a couple of years ago. It was bought by another nearby bigger gym. When they finally went to merge, they moved all the equipment out of the location of the solvent location to the financially troubled location, and boy did they screw things up royally.
First, they closed for a month. That should have spelled death there, but they kept a fair amount of both clubs members (mostly because of contracts). But they were doomed to make another mistake, they could open up for 24 hour access right away. The solvent club, was 24 hours a day, except Saturdays before this.
When they did finally open for 24 hours, it was only Monday to Friday for about a week, then it was Monday to Thursday. Then a month later they put up notices around the gym stating that they were no longer going to be open 24 hours any more because of lack of interest. (gee, think it had anything to do with being closed for a month?).
This is not the way to win back customers, and there is a huge! Gym around the corner that is open to midnight. You have now kissed away any competitive advantage you have in the area. The nearest 24 hour gym is in down town Vancouver.
So fast forward a year or two, and we have a club, that has a bar they are subletting upstairs. The bar is getting pumped really hard, members start to think that all of their dues are going to the bar upstairs (nobody knew it was a sublease).
Membership continues to decline.
On Monday Feb 27th, bailiffs show up and seize all equipment, taking all of the fixtures of the bar, and closing the club. Now the sublet tenant is screwed, and his business is dead as a result. [1]
Members calling the club were greeted with an answering machine vowing the club would re-open on Monday, and that they were closed for renovation.
Well, as a member of said club, I stopped by on Monday (March 6th), you can guess what I saw right? Yep, the club was still closed, except there was a hand written note on the door stating that they will re-open on either Friday the 10th of March or Monday the 13th. And that they would be getting new equipment. Hmmm, yeah I bet that's really going to happen.
Lets look at this from a realistic standpoint, They had a severely declining member base, and now they have been closed for 2 weeks and expect people to forgive them? The only person I have compassion for here is the poor guy that lost his bar.
I think I'll be looking for another fitness club, one that pays their bills.
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notes:
[1]
Article from Surrey Leader Telling the truth that the gym is afraid to share
