Is Curves for Women a Good Franchise Investment?
March 7, 2007 by Sean Kelly
Filed under CURVES FOR WOMEN
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.
I just got back from the Curves regionals meeting. touting a 20 city tour. We (owner, myself and another trainer) drove over 5 hours to get there. What we drove there for could have been sent via web cast or DVD. It was a DVD of Mike Raymond and the other talking heads! Yes, a DVD projected onto a giant screen, I was very put out. Mike began by talking about how we MAY be in a recession, but he was “Not going to participate”! I wanted to cry, and nearly did. I took a job at our local curves, because my husband was laid off from his job, so I don’t have the luxury of choosing “Not to participate” in the current recession. BUYER BEWARE!
We looked into purchasing curves smart and the initial investment is $8K, this will be installed on only the basic 8 machines any other machines are an additional $300. there is a $1500 set up fee, you’ll have to purchase a separate computer for down loading the members information into, plus the monthly fee that they will charge you for “maintenance” and the additional money for the card that you slip into each of the mini computers at each of the machines…so we rounded it up to about a $10k investment. NO THANKS!!!
Here is what other owners are saying about CI. They are so stupid that they ncan’t even see that all the problems are a direct result of Gary Heavin’s bad business decisions. Needless to say we won’t be going to the regionals or convention again this year.
I think that it’s great that we are sharing the results of our food drive…1,000 pounds here and 5 new members…but what scares me more are the total number of members that we have left. Folks…what is happening out there…what’s going on…why is Curves in the sewer the past couple of years…we have a niche market of overweight women over the age of 50 who wouldn’t normally go to a gym…where is everyone…why aren’t the women in that demographic joining anymore…all of your numbers are scaring me quite frankly. I had 712 CDs plus about 100 yearlys in my current club back at the beginning of 2004…now I have about 250 members including yearlys and dropping every month. I cannot keep up with the attrition rate any longer. I would have to work 15/hours a day and be out of the club half the time putting flyers on mailboxes, servicing the lead bags all over town, going to EVERY health fair, spending hours in my car everyday getting the news out, praying that the newspapers would print my Grassroots press releases which they have NEVER done even once for me yet…i can no longer bang my head against the wall and keep praying that my numbers will ever go up again because too many are leaving and either no longer going anywhere or joining Planet Fitness 5 minutes down the road. I have done everything I can do keep my business viable but I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.
I’m afraid that most of us who used to have dreams years ago about helping our population of older women get fit…can no longer keep up with the fact that our bills are getting higher and our incomes are getting lower…and Avon and the Walking Poles are just not going to bring in 1000s of dollars a MONTH to make up for it.
I am so scared…I hear you guys loud and clear….As a resale new owner, thank god I didn’t pay much but still scared regardless, I am appalled that the facts are not represented. Like one, very important one, the new average club is members is about 250, and we all know 250 just doesn’t cut it. And believe me, I have cut everywhere I can. I have spent buckets on marketing…I look my gals in the eye promising I can keep it open…And then I read this and remember the sad, pathetic Club Camp and feel like a liar…
I know and the gals love Curves the product, I love my club, but if Ding Dong doesn’t sell to someone with a masters in biz, or an smart innovative, motivated company, the crash and burn is imminent.
And by the way Gary said beyond, Peaks and Valleys, and Keep the Promise and crazy heathen remarks, oh and hates California, he said, ha-ha the lawsuit had been lost.. I’m confused…
I see so many disheartened comments about owning and operating Curves for Women, but I do want to encourage you to stick with it. I am a Supervisor for 3 Curves locations in the Lynchburg, VA area. These 3 locations have been open between 10 and 12 years and are thriving. Our locations hold between 300 and 500 members each.
I understand this is a bad economy, but we really haven’t lost a lot of members…those we have lost, we have replaced with new members. Our locations are not in a hugely populated area either. I truly believe it is what you do for your members at this very difficult time in our nation. Try to make it fun…spend a few dollars on games, have a themed week (ie - Oldies, 80s, etc…). Get people to buy supplements - shakes mainly - by having a shake tasting! Make sure you do the recipes from the Weight Managment book.
The Regional conference, I have to admit, was a bit of a disappointment. It was held in Charlotte, NC for our area in 2008 and was very nice. There were approximately 200-300 people in attendance and was a great learning experience. I agree they could have done a much better job on it, but I understand why they did it the way they did…get it over in one day so they didn’t have to travel the nation. Oh well! The conference in Nashville should be much better!
If you have any questions for me or need any advice on how to keep your members in your club, please respond! I would love to help in any way possible!
Hello, my name is Della. I work at a club in Pa. we have about 188 members( a very small town). but at one time we had 400. The owner is selling and she offered it to me. I am a little scared about it. I really want to,But I am worried about keeping members and getting new ones and any idea that you have would be great. It might help me decide if I could do that and if it would work ,wow that would be great!!!
Della:
Please read the comments on these posts at UnhappyFranchisee.com
http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-overview/
Well there are only 180 people part of this lawsuit. That’s out of 6000+ US locations.I seriously doubt any court is going to award anythign substantial to such a smapp percentage of the franchise system. That’s 3 percent of the franchisees.
SBA loan closings on some big brands are as follows:
FRANCHISE #LOANS Closing rate
21420–CURVES FOR WOMEN 362 11.33%
78760–SUBWAY SANDWICH SHOP 5.87%
17205–CICI’S PIZZA 155 14.84%
75988–SNAP FITNESS 50 2.00%
10955–BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO16 37.50%
04516–ANYTIME FITNESS 103 5.83%
46561–LADY OF AMERICA 31 41.94%
52300–MCDONALD’S 14 14.29%
Edwin:
3% of all US franchisees being part of a single lawsuit seems pretty high, doesn’t it? I mean, this is only one suit. Plus, most failing or failed franchisees don’t have the money to pursue legal action.
It’s worth noting that the loan default numbers only reflect SBA guaranteed loans. Curves has one of the highest default rates in franchising. Here’s the list here:
http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/quiznos-cold-stone-subway-curves-top-franchise-loan-defaults/
Gary Heavin claims this is due to Curves resales with inflated prices. While this doesn’t seem completely plausible, stories like this below add some credence to it:
http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-disturbing-resale-story/
http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/curves-franchise-resale-buyer-cries-fraud/
It also shows how some franchisees may be doing a bit of underhanded dealing as well.
We sold a curves before the market crashed on sales. But Gary Haven can not blame the resale mark up on that He like GOD aproves every sale. If the price is to high he should stop it.
For a godlike ruler he sure can not see our current econemy. We have #2 curves for sale (almost give it away) to someone who wants it. We are getting out making more money at home online. Let’s just face it fat people figgured out you have to sweat at curves and that is not acceptable. That equels zero results.
Hello Sean,
I appreciate all you do, and thank you for telling our story, “Resale Buyer Cries Fraud.”
Someone made the statememt that we should have done our “due diligence”, before buying the clubs. We did our “due diligence” and looked over everything available to us, before we made the decision to buy these clubs. The previous owner of our clubs was abusing and deceiving the women in our communities. As far as we’re concerned, Curves International allowed this to happen. They should be held accountable.
Thank you again!
Curves is named AAFD’s Total Quality Franchising Franchisor of the Year.
Comments invited:
http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/curves-is-franchisor-of-year-say-what/
Haven’t posted here in a while, but I thought I’d let you know we closed on the short sale of our home today and have moved into a rental home. We avoided foreclosure by a little more than two weeks, so we’re grateful for that. We were blessed to find buyers during this terrible economy.
As we extricate ourselves slowly from this Curves nightmare, I wish all you owners and former owners the best.
Sadderbutwiser,
Good to hear from you again. It sounds like you are well on your way back although I’m sure it will take a while. I know you will be ok and have learned a very valuable lession. God Bless you and your family
To all curves owners who have had problems with curves International and Gary Howie Havein please send your complaints to the BBB of your city and Waco TX. As well as the attorney general of your state and TX. And the federal trade commission. Below are web links where you can file the complaints on line.
http://www.bbb.org/
http://waco.bbb.org/WWWRoot/SitePage.aspx?site=40&id=ab5100aa-4c5a-4314-8e1b-f5996973f10c
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/index.shtml
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtml
New post: Happy Curves franchisee speaks out
http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/curves-happy-franchise-owner-speaks-out/