Ryan is an attorney and valuation specialist residing in Chicago. He chronicles his thoughts and research on FranchisePundit.com. You may reach him by email ryanknoll@gmail.com or mobile telephone 312-212-3423.
For those who enjoyed our previous posts on Curves, here is a good background puff article, describing their interesting no frills approach.
A Curves franchise owner:
“We have found a niche — where women who would not necessarily go to a regular gym, feel comfortable here,” Moore says. “Nobody has to dress up — as you see sometimes in the regular gyms — to appeal to men, and they don’t have to here. It’s a very comfortable easy, friendly, supportive atmosphere.”
Description of operations:
A Curves club is basically a large room — usually located in a shopping center — filled with about ten pieces of weightlifting equipment. A recorded voice and a pulsing disco music lead patrons through their workout.
Thirty seconds working with the equipment at each station alternates with 30 seconds of running in place. The women keep going for 30 minutes and most come to Curves about three times a week…The monthly membership fee is as basic as the workout, between $40 and $50, quite a bargain compared to most health clubs.
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They go simple to the extreme it seems. It looks as much as a social club as a workout club. I always wondered why Curves windows were colored and you can’t see inside. Must be to make the women feel more comfortable.
As I read in the Curves forum one time, this business is definitely a feel-good lifestyle business. You are NOT going to make a substantial income ($60,000+) from this business.
It seems like a lot of Curves are for sale. When I was looking at franchises I went and looked at a couple. It seemed to me that members would quickly grow tired of the limited workouts, and the clubs were so no-frills as to be depressing. I also don’t like the right wing views of the franchisors.
to #3
every business is going to have left-wing and righ-wing folks in management, and it’s all going to even out at the end of the day. as long as they provide good service, who cares? they’re not requiring franchisees to post political banners in the workout room, eh? i heard the husband-wife who started curves go to church on the weekends, and someone (probably a competitor or disgruntled employee/customer) tried to blow it into some big deal. it’s all quit ridiculous if you ask me.
I agree with 4. Unless they are really wacky or a terrorist front, who cares? I’m not sure why people would be offended because the Curves owner is an proud Christian.
Find out what is happening to this franchise by going to unhappyfranchisee.com. Most owners are going broke and blame mismangement by Howie Havin. This is one of the worst franchisees their is so buyers beware and check out the ablve mentioned site.