Rogers7808:
There are no valid franchise awards/rankings that I know of (Though FranSurvey.Com at one time seemed to be useful and well-intentioned). All are somehow driven by a self-serving motive. For Entrepreneur magazine, the 800 lb. gorilla of franchise rankings, it is ad sales and perpetuation of the franchise myth of great opportunities galore.

The 2009 Franchisor of the Year award was given by the AAFD (American Association of Franchisees & Dealers). This is the same organization that gave Cuppy’s Coffee – an outright scam organization – its highest accreditation and defended it despite tons of warning signs that they were pirates. Why? Because Cuppy’s was paying the AAFD. Once they stopped paying, AAFD “got religion.”

From what I understand, Curves International made a commitment to spend $250K or so funding the AAFD-sanctioned Curves franchisee association. Think that might have had something to do with it?

http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-aafd-names-curves-franchisor-of-the-year/

Keep in mind that the very name of the award is deceptive. Since their awards are solely for AAFD member organizations, shouldn’t it be designated as “Franchisor AAFD Member of the Year”? The award implies they evaluated all franchisors and designated the winner as the best. In fact, the number of franchisors involved with the AAFD is quite small.

Be sure to also check out:
http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-overview/
http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/curves-is-franchisor-of-year-say-what/
http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/aafd-quietly-suspends-cuppys-franchisor-accreditation/

There is probably a very good reason why the owner is willing to part with their business for $1Joan,

There is probably a very good reason why the owner is willing to part with their business for $1.00:

• The business is in the red and most likely deeply in the red.
• The owner is trying to escape a lease payment that is probably guaranteed personally.

Those two issues should be cause for concern. If you are able to address those with a solid plan you might want to take the risk:

• How do you turn this business around to profitability?
• What kind of agreement can I get concerning the lease space?

For the latter question you might be able to come up with some favorable lease due to the economic conditions we are in. Most landlords probably are thankful if they can just make their payments at this point and any profit is gravy. You will have to make contact with that landlord and if I were you, get a lawyer to review everything before you sign on the dotted line.

However, you are dealing with a franchise when talking about Curves and with that come a whole additional set of issues that you need to address. This is especially true with Curves International and Howard Gary “Golden Greedy Pockets” Heavin:

• To buy the club, you will be entering into a long term agreement, an agreement that has a failure clause.

• Curves International and “Golden Greedy Pockets” are being sued in Federal court for numerous violations to include among some items as: Fraud, Unfair Trade Practices and Failure to Disclose.

• “Golden Greedy Pockets” was sued a few years back by his own executive staff.

• Curves clubs were closing at a high rate BEFORE the economy turned bad.

• Curves International does not enforce many of its own rules governing advertising on other club territories, transfers of members and payments to other clubs.

There are many other issues that can be added to the above list and the above list has many subparts such as over saturation of clubs which is a major compliant. Any one of these should be a Red Flag for any prospective franchisee, and in this case there are many Red Flags. If you have any doubts take Sean’s advice and read the many postings on the internet. If you still want to move forward, visit no less then ten clubs and talk to the owners.

If you still decide to move forward with the purchase I strongly recommend that you do an audit of the club who understands the Go Figure computer program and can help you go through file by file to get an exact accounting of the clubs membership. Be aware that if you have no experience with that program the membership can be very easily concealed from you and thereby you will be shocked by the true number a couple of months later.

If you feel this is what you want to do and go ahead, then I suggest that you contact the local houses of worship and have the minister, priest, rabbi, mullah, medicine man bless the place, perform an exorcism or whatever it is they do to – ‘cause you are going to need whatever help you can get. “You say you don’t believe?” Well, if you get involved with Curves, “Gary Greedy Golden Pockets” is going to take everything from you and the only thing you will have left is Hope, and that is where your faith comes in.

Finally, find a good shirk. You will need that too.

Joan, everyone needs to make up their own mind after weighing all the opinions put before them. When we asked if Curves for Women was a good investment, we received 600+ comments here:

http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/is-curves-for-women-a-good-franchise-investment/

I’d suggest you also search in the sidebar “categories” menu to read the 21 stories/discussions on this site about Curves.

Also, check out hundreds more comments and articles on Curves at http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com

Ultimately, you’ve got to make the decision and, for better or worse, take responsibility for the outcome. Speak to as many Curves owners as possible.

The good news is that even a few years ago you would not have all this information with which to make an informed decision.

Best of Luck. Keep us apprised!

Please go there to check it out and voice your opinion on the current posts and voice your concerns. This site is strictly for owners.