Is Curves for Women a Good Franchise Investment?
March 7, 2007 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
Do you own a Curves for Women franchise? Have you owned one, or know anyone who has? What are your thoughts on this franchise?
Curves For Women is one of the fastest growing franchise companies of the decade, having now topped 10,000 locations. I know in our area the concept seems to have passed the test of time. However, according to Franchise Pundit, 8% of the current Curves franchise locations are for sale.
What’s the inside scoop on the Curves for Women franchise opportunity?
SHARE YOUR INSIGHT. LEAVE A COMMENT.
Positive-Healthy
I have neither the time nor desire to get into a pissing match with Tom but it should be noted that he obviously wants to trash any person on this board that either disagrees with him or questions his “expertise” on Curves from his past posts. My post was directed and solicited by you so of course I felt obligated to answer you with truthful responses. Again if you decide to sell you club be sure to find an ethical breakage with moral character and integrity. It doesn’t appear that you will find that here so if you need help or have any questions you know how to get a hold of me.
Mr. Lay,
I have no desire to trash anyone here. I have no problem pointing out inconsistencys and hypocracy. I am happy to debate the facts in an intelligent and articulate manner. You are calling into question my moral and ethical character. How dare you sir!
I am offering my time to this franchisee free of charge. What part of that did you miss. You hate Curves and you want to refer her to a broker that is “ethical” who can sell her club. Anyone reading this can see the hypocracy here. You don’t like getting called out out it and what do you do? You attack my character. This is the oldest trick in the book. When the fadcts don’t back up what you are claiming change the facts and attack the character of your opponent.
I have no problem backing my words up with facts. I challenge you to disprove anything I have said here with facts of your own. Curves had a moratorium of new sales for the st half of 2007 in order to evaluate the market and territories. They sold 7 territories in 2007. That’s a far cry from your claim that if a club closed it would be resold within 6 months. You make claims with no proof and this only discredits what you are saying as a whole.
Regardless oif what you think I care about Curves owners. I have a kindredness with health club owners in general. Most of my life has been involved in the health club industry. I ahve consulted for many buyers and advised them not to purchase certain locations. I tell them what to expect, and give them a wealth of information. I ahve helped to save buyers from amking the biggest mistakes of their lives and have helped them to make very successful purchases. My mission is to be fair, honest, and ethical with all parties. That is my agenda. Let’s sum it up:
You have Curves
You are suing Curves
You don’t think anyone should buy a Curves
You have an ethical broker that will help this lady sell her Curves
Give me a break. Don’t you think readers here can see through you?
Everyone Please look at the list of Curves owned by the Franchisor. Zip Notta, Zero, None. Not one. That is why they are debt free, they use the failing franchises money to be debt free including the now $10 k failure fee. Does any other franchise so this? I cannot believe curves even wants to consider opening there own locations, especially when they do not work long term. and only 7 franchises opened in 2007 and about 800 closings. That makes real sense. If there is any common sense on this blog, use it and add up the numbers. If this was the stock market we would all be poor.
Good luck to those buying Curves. You all will need it! Statistically the fail rate is unbelievable, and all financial advisors would tell you to bank your money and never buy a Curves. As for my franchise Tom, I just chose not to sell any more and waste my money to pursue it at this time. I will restart in several years when Curves is gone and the economy it better.
Jose,
Why can’t you answer the questions I posed to you in the above post? Again you are making up facts. there were not 800 closings in 2007. Why do you need to wait for curves to “be gone” for you to succeed?
Warning #2:
The point of this blog post is the Curves for Women franchise opportunity and franchise program. It’s not a referendum on any individual’s employment history, or a vehicle for personal attacks.
I don’t edit or censor comments, but I can – and will – close a discussion or ban commenters who can’t follow the guidelines.
And FYI… Tom is quite correct about subpoenas for commenter IP addresses.
There’s not gonna be a warning #3.
Finally , Thank you Sean, for restoring the order!!
I only have 1 thing to say, I feel it is the worst remedy when someone has had a bad experience to always talk about it , you know , I think that all business people have their flaws but to continiously judge them is simply wrong we have to look at the Good things they did over the years, OK Curves got greedy !! but over the years how many women that because of them did not Die or get sick , or just regain their ” Joie de vivre” at one point they had 4 million women tranning and more than 30,000 employes ,Dont tell me that now it does not count for something.
I know that if my sister (that owned a Curves )
did all of what she was supposed to do she would still be in business, but she prefered to be home on friday’s and arrived at 9H30 am the day she worked , she even had a schedual like a simple employe , she never got out in her community to get people to better know her , I need to point out that we had a long conversation last week the two of us and now I know the real story and exception made of the Curves Owner that territory where oversold I am sure that my sister was not the only one doing 100% of 50% , It’s not counting all the other copy cat that did hurt Curves a lot like, Buterfly life , lady express, and all the other 30 min franchises that took a big chunk of the market, It’s not Gary Heavin’s fault that they arrived !! well in a sence yes since he introduce the 30 min concept lol,,, but when you sell about 5 franchise a DAY !! it could take you by surprise that you lost control , Victim of their own success, Another point that is very objective here , M.Heavin was not selling them alone he had a whole bunch of salesman that did the work
for him so at a paste of 5 a day , it might be possible that he did not saw exactly where all those franchise where oppening, Now If someone has something to say to M.Heavin it should be to help the other 8500 franchise (+/- ) still open not cretisize, Give positive advice based on your personal experiences , Most of you on this blog has owned a Curves before, If you give advice you will be feeling so much better it will change your life , I see people here that are so negative it makes me negative, I a strugling Curves owner comes to this site , he might as well close his door since the way things are going on this blog it’s only a matter of time for Curves!!! And I am
very much a beliver that a corporation the size of Curves can take a hit (like it does at this time) but the question is Can a franchisee survive in a negative environment?? the ansewer is no , A good example is Wall Mart !! they are cretisized from all over , Lawsuit, complaints from employees , name it ,it has been said against them , but they are still growing because it’s a love hate relationship , People just hate the fact that Wall mart is so big , but love to save $$ so they just shop at wall mart, , Curves might go down to 5000, franchise in a few years , or not, nobody knows , the only things important at this moment is to pull all the struggling Curves owner
together with all the succesfull ones and find solutions then take actions. Remenber that each time a Curves franchise tell’s something bad about the concept or it’s owner’s they shoot themselfs in the foot , The more people sees blogs that are negative the less they will want to register at a Curves facility.. Think positive , surround yourselfs with positive people , and it will make all the difference in the world.
Every time a Curves closes it affects a lot more people than we think , think of first the franchisee that risk of loosing everithing , also her 3 to 5 employee’s , than think of the lady that loves to train at Curves and got her life back , think of the landlord, the small retailers neighbors of the Curves that needed the extra revenues, I am not trying to make anybody cry , it is just a fact ,
I have said my peece and thank’s to my sister and her honnesty I can say that I dont blame Curves anymore for her lost..
Mel
Corection I a should read If a
If a strugling Curves owner comes to this site , he might as well close his door since the way things are going on this blog it’s only a matter of time for Curves!!!
Melissa,
Very well spoken. Very objective. The reason that Curves corporate doesn’t own locations as Jose pointed out is that they need a local owner that has ties to the community, and who is involved in the community. This is the reason many of the clubs that are run by managers with no owner involvement locally do not do well.
Melissa,
I am not going to badmouth Curves, but nobody can dispute the overselling of territories. From my house to our club on map quest, there were 22 clubs. My house was 12 miles from the club.
That was not counting the 2 clubs that had just closed.
When we contacted the nearby clubs to let them know that we were closing, and to let them know that we were sending our members to their clubs to try it out so that they could make a decision as to where they wanted to
transfer, all the owners were complaining about how they were not making any money.
All Curves clubs are supposed to be on the same page..same fees, same specials, etc. Well, that doesn’t happen. It is cut throat between clubs because they are so close. Kind of like a Starbucks on every corner.
We sold one club and closed the other. Would I do it over again. Absolutely not. We spent tens of thousand of dollars trying to keep them open.
Do I miss my members? Absolutely, they were wonderful.
Lynn, you won’t hear an argument from me on that one. Some markets were definately oversold. In some cases there were many franchisees that split territories. Curves should have never allowed this to go on. Many people ZEES and the ZOR saw $$$. Strategically Curves looked at is as securing marketshare before the compeditors could enter the market. If a Curves wasn’t there a Butterfly Life or Ladies Workout Express would be there. This was the mentality. Much of this oversaturation was in major metro areas in FL, the Northeast, and California. Many of these locations did fine the first couple of years, but year 3 is a tough year. People quit and come back months later, you need enough population to recycle membership after that 3 year mark. When you look at it strictly from a brand growth standpoinnt Curves oversaturated it to achieve market dominance in the long run, justifying it, but many Zees in specific areas are suffering in the short and mid term. Subway did the same thing. Starbucks did it too, only Starbucks doesn’t have zees that are affected financially. The pain is shared among stockholders and there is no perceived “victomization”. These are all of my opinions, BTW, from studying Curves. I have been following it since 1996. I knew some of the very, very first franchisees.
My advice to Curves owners when locations close is get the remaining location owners together and write Curves legal a letter requesting the closed territories be merged back into the surrounding areas. Get a map and draw the new boundaries with a pencil. If B is between A and C get A nad C to agree on a newer more viable territory and both send a signed letter to Curves requesting the change. When you go to sell it will help the marketability (not necessarily the value though.)
Curves is definately in a retrenchment phase of the life cycle. They cannot support as many locations as they have in this economy (and probale any economy). They will need to consolidate territories (as they are), and let the courts and market work out the rest. I am still a believer in the brand though.
Tom:
Why are you still posting here?
FYI: Tom has threatened legal action against the b5media and one of the commenters here. Remarkably, he wonders why he is not welcome to continue to post here. The comments in dispute are being held “in moderation” pending the outcome of his legal action.
With all the Curves closing, has anybody paid the 10k? And what have ex-owners done with their equipment?
I am a current Curves owner. I will say that I have been happy with my purchase. I didn’t buy one to get rich. I loved fitness and helping women. The club I purchased has 80 members. The owner was never there. She had it run by teenagers and the place was filthy. We heard it was closing and I purchased it for $5,000. I am proud to say I have 362 active members.
It wasn’t easy I will say that. I had to hustle, but I did everything Curves laid out for me. I worked the registration boxes, put out fliers, issues the press releases that are on curvescommunity.com. I was an aerobics instructor in college and have some background in motivating people.
I installed the Curves Smart and it has really helped to keep members active and getting results. I haven’t seen a huge influx of new members because it, but if it lowers cancellations that is 1/2 the battle to growing a fitness club.
That’s my 2 cents. There is so much negativeness here that I just wanted to share a positive experience.
Thanks Angelique. Good to hear some good news.
Where’s your club located?
Are you in the United States?
I happen to LOVE Curves. As far as cheating on the workouts? Yes. I have to admit that you can because you get what you give. That’s what I like about it. If you’re 25 and overweight but otherwise healty then get your fat butt moving and lose that weight on the contrary if you’re 65 and just trying to get some exercise then this place is for you too. If you keep moving on the recovery station and work your a$$ off on the machines you can be a lean healthy sexy bastard. It’s up to you. I think they could use better marketing and focus on trying to reel in the 20, 30 somethings with a sexier side that promotes how well the machines can tone and life that flabby booty. Trust me first hand. Thank to curves I’m 5′6″ 155lbs measure 38C-26-42….JLO has nothing on me thanx to diet and curves. I’m so toned and I love everyone there it’s my home away from home. I go Monday thru Friday. I should be their new spokewoman they need a sexy young african american model.
Interesting story about a group of members banding together to reopen their Curves club after the franchisee shuttered two Oak Park area clubs.
Your comments invited:
CURVES FRANCHISE: Members May Reopen Closed Fitness Club
Tom,
If you do so you are not bright enought to perform due diligence anyway.
Thanks for your comments about my education.. Now allow me to educate you a little..
First I speak three languages.. English French and Italian.. I have a Bachelors degree in accounting.. I graduated from a French university and am currently considering returning to school to complete my CGA..
Unlike you I do not have all day to write on these blogs and yes
I did not only use this blog to make my decision.. I also read all the UFOC.. I also considered what was said by many previous owners who did not find it funny to lose their money.. I understand that their postings might mean loss of business for you…
Out of curiosity how many Curves fitness centers do you own….? If it is such a great investment I hope you jump on the wagon..
I hope you conduct your business better than you do on these blogs.. You obviously have very little tact!!
Zella,
You rock girl!!!!! Way to go!!!
Does anyone see the corilation between corporate greed in the stock market and Curves Franchise sales and losses? It seems the market indices show a good corilation in market conditions, foreclosure rate on Homes and curves franchises. The only difference is curves will not bail out its frachisees because of overtrading ( over selling territories). i wonder WHY?
Does anyone see the corilation between corporate greed in the stock market and Curves Franchise sales and losses?
One correlation is the fact that the banks are constant bailout recipients through SBA loans. The loan broker gets their 1.5% of the loan. The FR gets its franchise fee and equipment purchase profits. The bank gets 85% of it loan guaranteed by the SBA. So when the default comes, the franchisee loses her house to the bank, and the taxpayers pay off the loan.
You are correct Sean.
The SBA Garuantees the Franchisee losses in the nd. The Franchisee signs away all rights to the Government when the get this loan. The Franchisors are told time again to register with SBA and they will make Lots of money, because it is easy to get money if you are a Women or minority.
ATTENTION UNHAPPY CURVES OWNERS
Calling on all curves owners who have had problems with [Name withheld] and Curves International. We all know what a crook, unethical, illegal and immoral business person he is but there are some companies who don’t know who the real [Name withheld] is. He is trying to partner with a company called Silver Sneakers Fitness Program for advertising purposes. Silver Sneakers is a replicable business and if you don’t know who they are you can go to their web site by typing in Sliver Sneakers in your search box. As soon as you are done reading this post please either call them, send them a fax or an email telling them what you think of Curves International and [Name withheld]. We need to put a stop to [Name withheld] from taking advantage of the seniors who belong to Silver Sneakers. I can’t stress this enough so all of you who have joined the group lawsuit and those who wanted too but can’t afford to please act on this now before [Name withheld] takes advantage of them also.
Thank you,
Unhappy
SILVER SNEAKERS FITNESS PROGRAM
[Del]
http://www.silversneaker.com
I am about to buy a resale curves location and the owner is asking to be on the new franchise agreement as a co-owner till till I have paid off the remaining balance in 4 years. I would like your comments on this so called gaurantee in case I fail he still has a franchise otherwise the curves management will not gaurentee the previous owner that he will get back the franchise. Thanks Lou
Lou,
If you feel comfortable with this arangement, then go ahead. If you should fail, then he would not get the franchise back. If he is doing an owner finance this is a guarantee on your part. Why do you want to buy a franchise like Curves is my question. Have you questioned the other owners in the area to find out how business is? Have your accountant really look at the books down to the last dime and your attorney look at the franchise agreement because every word in the agreement is for the franchisor not the franchisee, I have this on good authority from someone that helped to draft the new agreement. The fitness industry is a very hard industry to succeed in. I know after owning a Curves for the last four years. My business failed, and when you fail, they charge you an exhorbitant closing fee. I am being cautious about what I am disclosing to you because of retaliation from the parent company. My advice to you, is to really think about this before you leap off, when you do you are committed for five years. If you must consider business ownership, look at traditional not franchised, so if you do fail for some reason, you will avoid lawsuits. I hope this will clarify the answer for you. Again, I say talk to the other Curves owners and gyms in the area before making your decision. I have talked with other owners that were around me that bought before I failed, and say now they wish they had talked with me before purchasing.
Dear Dorothy, below is an example of a full time owner that did exactly what she needed to do
and is making money with her Curves, it is still possible to make a difference , work , contact with local business, and the most important taking care of your customers, you need to get to be freinds with them , why should a freind go anywhere else to train..? This blog is sadly a starting point for negative thinking , and is hurting not only the business like Curves but the actual owner that are strugling.. there should be a place that all the Curves owner like PKJ could meet and exchange rather than all the negative owners talking about how Curves is not a good business , It’s simply a business that need a lot of care, and caring for it’s customers. Lou , if you want to buy in and are prepared to work hard you will make money , but if you think that
this is the kind of business that can have a manager working for you while you do something else .. forget it .. take it like if it was a baby..
did you ever see a parent have a schedule to take care of their kids, of corse not, when ever the kid’s need attention they will be there no mather what their previous engagement where, and when you give your kids to be raised by someone else and raised them part time dont think that your kids wont struggle in life..
a business is exactly that ( sacrifice) but you need to do it while loving it..
pkj
Apr 8, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Just a note for all those out there who say things are getting worse. I just compared my numbers from March of 07 to March of 08; my membership is up over 50% in one year. In February 06 I had 229 members today I have 472. My business has more than doubled in two years. The difference is me. I made the decision to get busy and find ways to make my business more profitable. I work at my club. I find the clubs that are struggling the most are the clubs that have absentee’s owners.
I think I said this before and I will repeat – that Curves had a very low buy in and that afforded many of us that had no business sense to get in. With that said I was one of them. I am learning through the school of hard knocks. Curves has given me many tools, recourses and support. I could blame them and I’m sure that they deserve some but making my business successful falls on my shoulders.
If you are looking to buy a Curves, there is no doubt that you should do so with caution. That is so for every business.
I love my Curves.
Melissa,
I did not open this discussion for a debate about what should be done with your business and how to do it. I did all the things that Curves told me to do and I still failed. I merely pointed out that he should make very sure of the numbers before committing to the deal. I know of a club that was next to me that the owner falsified the numbers and the broker signed off on it as well, and now they are losing money and tied up in litigation with the previous owner due to someone who did not tell the truth. Owners are desperate to get out and don’t think of the ramifications for the new owner coming in. Not everyone is honest in business dealings. I am merely offering what I feel is sound advice for someone before they commit thier life for five years. I loved my business and was very sad when it died, my life has not been the same since, and Curves does not play fair, they only care about the roylaty fees monthly, inspite of what you may think. I worked my business daily month in and month out until I was exhausted to fulfill my commitment, until there was nothing left to give it. I appreciate your loyalty to Curves, but do not bash those of us who have given it our best without knowing the whole story.
Dear Dorothy ,
Loyalty to Curves??? me?? no way , I am only pointing out the facts of owning a business like Curves or any other business , Please watch
Kitchen Nightmare (the show) it reflects exactly what I am tring to point out here , the owners are full of good faith , and all think that they are doing exactly the right thing but in reality they are doing the opposite and slowly loosing their business (those business aren’t franchises) then a fresh guy come in and makes it work , why ,simple the comfort zone!! one of the major factor for failling business and even couples
when you get in that zone it’s like putting blindfolds, you know that you are in your bisiness but you dont see wath’s happening outside.
I think that
I am so sorry for you and the fact that you lost your business , but when you purchased your Curves , you did it with 100% of conviction that it would make a good investment for you , but something happend and it wasent Curves , it was a bunch of factors like , competition, mabe you own staff that did not give the right services to your customers , did you work more than 60 hours a week when it got tough to help diminish the pay roll, I am sure that you never intended to hurt your business . I now teach people to look at themself first when a problem happens I know that it is 10 time harder to do but it is the way all of us should do it , the easy way is alway’s to blame others..
I wish you all the best
Mel
Lou;
I agree with Dorothy. I strongly recommend you think twice about getting locked into a Curves franchise. As a non-franchise manufacturer of hydraulic exercise equipment, I have heard many, many Curves owners who have contacted me after the fact telling me that they wish they had done more homework before jumping into a long-term contract of basically working for Curves. If you believe there is a market for a women’s club in your town, I would strongly encourage you to check out the non-franchise equipment companies that can provide you with marketing materials, training as well as superior equipment without any franchise fees or royalties. Obviously opening an independent club without the strength of the Curves name will mean that you will need to create your own brand awareness, but that is a part of any new business. As others have noted, it does take hard work and a “personal touch” to be successful long-term in this type of business, especially in these tough economic times. This is true whether you have a franchise or not. Call existing club owners, both franchise and independents to get feedback from them.
Good luck,
FitDude
Lou,
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t malke him drink. You have hopefully read all of the posts on this site as well as its’ sister site unhappyfranchisee.com. If you have and you still go through with the purchase you are nut’s. Why would you waist the money. Put it in the stock market and become a day trader. Your investment would be safer and you will have less stress.
Mellessa you are refusing to see why most of the curves are closing and how they got in that position. Read the posts on unhappyfranchisee.com and other sites like it and maybe you will get the drift. How dare you blame the owners. Have you ever owned a curves? I would suspect not. While some are doing ok the majority are not. At the convention held last week corporate would not release the number of clbs still open. It was so bad one owner asked me this:
> Did you hear that Gary announced the Biggest Loser contest at the Convention??
> Any owner that is not taking a salary or wage and still has a club that is open is eligible to participate. The club with the most months of negative cash flow will win free attorney fees toward their upcoming bankruptcy. Of course, he will still charge the $10k for breaking the contract.
Not only did he assure me it wasn’t a joke. He went on to say that Howard also warned owners not to get hooked into the lawsuit as only the lawyers would be making money. He went on to say so far he had won every court hearing. We know that is a lie as the court rulings have been in favor of the litigants. You can call the district court in Waco TX. and have them send you all the court filling and you can prove to yourself that ’s not the case. The clerk of court is so fimilar with the case you won’t even need a document number.
Lou for pete sake, I’m bagging you to reconsider buying a curves at this time. It will turn out to be the biggest nightmare of you life.
Deat Unhappy,
Thanks for the info from the convention. It does not surprise me that he did not disclose the closure rate. He was issuing a warning to those who are thinking about the lawsuit and trying to scare then off. As far as Waco goes, my case is one that is registered in Waco. They wasted no time in bringing suit aginst me, and I am not alone from what I hear. I am offering sound advice to people who are thinking about a franchise. I for one will never look a another franchise for investment. Why are people so naive when it comes to the facts, especially those of us who have been burned? His job is to convice prospective franchisee’s it is the best investment they will ever make, and his offer of a refund at club camp is a joke, he never means it. He knows that his empire is slipping away and current owners that I know are waiting for the day that thier leases are over and thier agreements, in the meantime holding on to avoid the pitfalls of litigation even at the expense of thier families and future. Thank you to those who rose to my defense in this discussion. God Bless you.
Tell me more about what happened at the Curves National convention in Orlando Florida last week.
Well the big new is that Curves International is going to be signing up members directly over the internet which is only going to hurt owners more as they will only get a portion of the monthly payment like they do now on health insurance paid members. Plus it takes for ever to get our money from curves sometimes up tyo 3 months. Lets see Lou I guess you still plan to buy the franchise. Wow you got b— the size of grapfruit!!!! You had better put 4,000 away cus you will need it 6 months from now to join the group action lawsuit. It will be just a matter of time Lou so don’t ever say you weren’t warned. I can hardly wait for 6 months to go by so we all can ask Lou ” how to you like it now” . I’ll wager 2 to 1 he will regret ever hearing about Curves.
I’ll take that bet! But tell me more about the convention.
Barnum and Bailly were right there is a sucker born every minute and Lou you are one!!!!!!! Good luck with your adventure. Your going to need it.
I guess Howie didn’t bring up at the convention how we the plantiffs won the motion to dismiss this month. Anyone who buys a Curves Franchise is in complete denial of the facts and I truly feel bad for them.
As a matter of fact what he told the owners was that he had won every motion and that they would be stupid to pay a lawyer a retainer of 4000 as there was no way he would lose and if they w3ere to close he wouild lower the 10,000 closing fee to 4000 as long as the owner signed the release form. What a joke!!! He hasn’t won any motion that I know of yet and will be going to trail soon.
Hi…..I bought a Curves franchise Aug 1st 2007. It has 250 members. I have no time for Curves . I am willing to sell it for the debt it has on it alone. Any takers? I am honest and will not hide a thing, I own a business in close vacinity (daycare) and that occupies all my time.
[If interested email unhappyfranchisee[at]gmail.com and ask for the editor to forward your email to me.]
the problem is the business plan stinks curves makes the rules as they go along. they are different for everone. I have heard of 10,000 closing fee – 1,000. This company is a fraud is all about revenue it can generate from franchisees. It does not care whether you succeed. They will sell to anyone. They do not follow their own business practises. Companys that are this disorganized always fail. But I have spoken to several owners and to me the truly suceesful ones have great locations and good parking. Those clubs seem to do well. The others suffer a slow death. Regardless how the coparate office does business. The members dont really know what goes on behind the scene. But let me say, There has to be something to it as so many are suing curves and so many are going out of business. Must be bad business from the top
well unfortunately I found the hard way what everyone else already knew curves is a scam. They could care less if you lose your house your marrage and everything else you own. They are greedy and untrustworthy, I could write a book. but there seems to be one already out. When will the lawsuit be settled, I heard by the end of the year. Is this true. How do you get involved in the second one. I want some sort of restitution. PLease give more info. thanks nothing left to lose
Its not worht the paper you bought it on maybe 1 dollar thats what there going for nowdays
I own a Curves franchise and need to disagree with a lot of what I’ve read. I’ve owned my club since 2002, and it is still profitable. I think many problems stem from the lack of business savvy the owners have. I’ve watched many spend a lot of money on ineffective advertising, I’ve watched others decide they could do it better than Curves International advised so they came up with their own ideas on how to make it work, and I’ve seen others just give up. Mine is still successful because I put my time in, I follow the business model Curves put in place, and I am smart about how I spend my money. I made sure I could afford what I was getting into before I began. I didn’t take out any additional mortgage on my house or spend beyond my means.
Yes, it’s true, unfortunately, Curves International would sell to anyone, and I think that was a big mistake on their part. After reading some of the comments on this website, I don’t believe many of the owners possess the level of intelligence necessary to run any successful business.
It’s so easy to blame Gary, the founder, than it is to admit that maybe you got in over your head. I have not loved 100% of what’s gone on throughout the years, but it’s how I’ve chosen to deal with each instance that keeps me successful.
My message to Lou, if you possess any sense of business, have the time to give to the club, and are smart about spending, buy the franchise!
Curves is not a scam. It’s getting older women, who would not normally workout, back into a healthy fitness routine. Many of my members have lost weight, lost inches, stopped taking weight-related medications, and are now more physically fit than they’ve ever been. How can that be a scam? I’m proud to be a part of helping these women improve the quality of their lives.
THERE ARE SOME HERE ON THIS SITE THAT DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING IS THAT BAD WITH CURVES. WELL FOLKS IT IS AND FOR THOSE WHO WOULD QUESTION THAT WHY DON’T YOU PROVE IT TO YOUR SELF BY DOING THE RESEARCH ON THE LAWSUIT. HERE IS WHO YOU NEED TO CONTACT.
FEDERAL COURT
U.S. CLERK OFFICE
800 FRANKLIN ROOM 800
WACO TX. 76701
254-750-1501
CASE OR DOC # 07′ CV’ 048
YOU CAN CALL AND REQUEST ALL DOCUMENTS REGARDING THE CASE AND PROVE TO YOUR SELF THAT HEAVIN IS NOT TELLING THE TRUTH TO THE CURVES OWNERS. SEE YOU IN COURT REAL SOON HEAVIN
With all the curves closing that are going on around the world how can anyone say that curves is a good investment. Wake up and smell the coffee. curves is one of the worst investments that one can make. Buyers beware of this uneitical company. And members look out as the clubs are closing all aver the country at an alarming rate. If you are considering buying a curves location DON’T — If you own a curves club sell it asap- and join the lawsuit before it is to late to join. If you are thinking of joining a curves don’t as in all likly hood it will be closing soon.
WOW!! that’s Great .. you are working very hard to make sure Curves closes for good !!!
But did you ever stoped and think about all the Curves Owner that want their center to work !!
your are telleing people to sell asap.. but in the same message you are saying not to buy !!!
more than that you are telling all potential custumers not to join.. this is LOW for anyone to say, your are not only doing wrong to GH but to all the strugling owners out there.. you should stop, I dont understand why you would do something so mean ..
But with a name like Unhappy maby it took a tool on you..
If you have a grudge on someone dont take it on innocent bystanderds .
Have a nice day .
your are telleing people to sell asap.. but in the same message you are saying not to buy !!!
Ah yes. The Hot Potato franchise sales methodology. Toss it to the next sucka before the music stops.
So even if you buy it for a dollar, you’re still on the hook for the $9999 Failure Fee, right?
???
Sean I don’t think Melissa has read this whole blog to understand what you are talking about.
Isn’t this Sector getting saturated? – Just like the fast food sector?
The buyouts by franchisors of failing franchisees seem to be picking up —don’t they? because, of course, of the increasing failures.
With the Recession, perhaps more franchisors will have to offer an easier way out for franchisees as an inducement for them to make the investment.
These people have been burned In addition they have lost alot of money. Their complaints have been ignorned and are left out in the cold broke and discouarged. Unhappy is putting it mildly. They have every right to blow off steam and warn other potential victims.They bought into a company that mislead them. There is so much proof out there. Call for yourself and grt the facts. For every one club making their bills there are 10 in trouble and will close this next year. The only way to get retrrobution is in court and the numbers are mounting everyday. So do your homework before you spout nonsence