Lifestyle Family Fitness Closing in Northdale

Mickey Mouse September 28, 2012 at 05:01 pm

One of MANY to come. Hope you LFF members are prepared for some major changes, because it's just a matter of time before these LFF locations start biting the dust. These LFF's don't fit into the LA Fitness landscape, they're only holding onto the current LFF locations so there's not a mass exodus all at once....members AND employees. This company was aquired to eliminate competition, not expand. A company with over 500+ locations doesn't need 32 smaller/run-down gyms in their business plan.

John October 2, 2012 at 05:28 pm

For LA Fitness and any other business really it's about the bottom line. So, to make more money, LA is buying memberships and closing facilities. So they acquire paying members to collect revenue then they close as many facilities as possible to cut costs. The hope I’m sure is that they keep enough members from the acquired clubs to make it worth while, since closing the facilities does incur short-term expenses.
But I think these members are very susceptible to an new gym with an enticing offer. All I really want is to be able to do an annual membership—and pay on my own time. I will not give these places my debit card and the authority to use it. If you scout complaints around the web you’ll see many when clubs just never stop debiting even after the obligation of the “contract” is met. And of course it needs to have good facilities. But being able to exit from your membership is a key point for me. If they tell me I can’t leave for a year, that’s fine, but when they continue debiting, that’s where the line is drawn for me. Get this, there is even a club in the area that requires a certified letter to cancel. There is no other way to cancel. I mean, that’s fine if they want to do it, but I would never even think about belonging there…that is until all my clubs started closing. I would even pay more for a good club that meets the above flexibility requirement and has decent facilities.