Better for the franchisees, I mean. I’m sure Mr. Wittenberns will do fine.

Save the blow me comment… I’m allergic to plastic.

I guess what I am saying is that when the franchisees hurt, so does the franchisor.

Maybe I just got lucky, maybe I just followed their system even though it was hard, maybe it was a combination of them both, I don’t know.

At the same, business owners are always ultimately responsible for the decisions they’ve made. At the end of the day, no one made me leave my comfy job to own my own business. One can still take responsibility for their actions without letting the bad guys off the hook for their misdeeds.

Franchisees should take responsibility for seeking a “hot new trend” rather than a proven business that has stood the test of time, and franchisors should take responsibility if they were not honest about the risks, costs or performance they were aware of, and for targeting and “selecting” inexperienced people then blaming them for it later.

I guess what I am saying is that when the business is starting to fail, the natural thing to do is to run and hide. Nobody wants to face their problems. Nobody wants to follow the system.

I guess that is a mute point now that ShapeXpress has sold to Diversified Health and Fitness. We’ll see if they can change all of the problems.

kizzan, I’ll chime in here since Linden Wood’s subtle, nuanced use of language might not have gone over the heads of some of the less erudite, reasonable & prudent.

My understanding is that one of the fundamental problems of ShapeXpress and similar women’s express fitness clubs is that the business model is dependent upon predominantly industry newbie franchisees appealing to a female-only demographic of “deconditioned” consumers with a simplified fitness approach and low monthly fees.

Two main problems (which would be especially unforeseen by those new to the industry) that arose were the glut of new clubs chasing the same consumer, and the low retention rates (caused in part by potatoes returning to their couches, and others graduating to full service clubs).

While these conditions weren’t invented by ShapeXpress, it was a consequence of the concept, positioning and strategy was it not? I’ve read other factors attributed to the widespread failures of these clubs. Surprisingly, none of these involved franchisees not working hard enough, or not being committed to the success of their clubs.

While blaming the franchisees is fine, time-tested tradition of many a ‘zor who graces the franchise graveyard, don’t you think a reasonable and prudent franchisor in a tough industry would only “award” franchises to franchisees who are reasonable & prudent? Aren’t you saying that the problem was ShapeXpress’ franchise sales strategy?

It’s funny, the people mentioned in this article were, at one time on the ShapeXpress “hot list” of franchisees, ones that ShapeXpress wanted you to call. When things are going great, ShapeXpress is awesome, but when they aren’t, it must be that ShapeXpress’ business model doesn’t work. I’ve talked to many ShapeXpress franchisees that failed and they will tell me that it is because the business model doesn’t work. Then I ask them what they’ve done (specific things and I can’t share the ShapeXpress avenues of marketing here), and they don’t do them.

The problem is not ShapeXpress, it is that we are in a tough industry. A reasonable and prudent person should have known that before buying a ShapeXpress franchise. The problem is not ShapeXpress.