Last month, callers to the corporate office of Lifestyle Family Fitness in St. Petersburg, FL, were greeted with this recorded response:
“It’s a great day at Lifestyle Family Fitness…”
Those days appear to be numbered. On June 18, LA Fitness, Irvine, CA, announced that it had come to an agreement to buy the assets of the remaining Lifestyle Family Fitness clubs. The sale likely would mean the end of the Lifestyle company, which was founded in 1982.
Jill Greuling, executive vice president of operations at LA Fitness, told Club Industry last month the company was hopeful that the transaction would be completed within the next several weeks, pending the completion of certain requirements in the agreement. On July 2, LA Fitness announced that it had completed the purchase of 32 of the 33 Lifestyle clubs. Completion of the purchase of the remaining club is expected soon.
Greuling also said that of the 33 Lifestyle clubs in Florida, one would be closing. Other Lifestyle clubs may be relocated or closed, but some of them could be expanded or remodeled, Greuling added.
Lifestyle Family Fitness, which last year sold nine clubs to Life Time Fitness, Chanhassen, MN, and closed other clubs in Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina, would be the second company to sell off its remaining clubs within the past 12 months. Last August, Equinox, New York, acquired the remaining four The Sports Club/LA clubs from The Sports Club Co., Los Angeles.
“Apparently, this is a time where some of the club industry’s largest club companies are taking advantage of the interest of other sizable firms to exit the industry,” says Rick Caro, president of Management Vision, New York.
Bally Total Fitness, Chicago, is down to around 55 clubs after selling 171 clubs to LA Fitness last year and 39 clubs to Blast Fitness, Auburndale, MA, earlier this year.