Bally's forces a shopping center to shut down my local gym

[beforewisdom]

Hi;

I just want to vent.

For several years I have been working out at the Wheaton Athletic Club in Wheaton Maryland:

http://wheatonathletic.com/xhome.htm

It is a great gym. Large well equipped free weights area, exercise machines, and a decent variety of cardio equipment. It is always clean and the equipment is always well maintained. It is independently owned.
It is staffed with friendly, knowledgeable people. No contracts unless you want one, no fluorescent lights and no corporate attitudes. A well run, competitive, community orientated gym.

Last summer Bally's Total Fitness put up their own gym on the other side of the parking lot from the Wheaton Athletic Club.

Interestingly, my gym only lost a few members to Bally's and was still doing great business on its own.

I found out last week that The Wheaton Athletic Club will be closing down.

Bally's negotiated an exclusionary clause with the owners of the shopping center where The Wheaton Athletic Club is located. If the Westfield Shopping Center (http://www.westfield.com/wheaton/ ) wanted Bally's, they could not allow another gym to be located there. The Westfield Shopping Center refused to renew The Wheaton Athletic Club's lease.

The Wheaton Athletic Club will close on February 20th of 2005.

Apparently Bally's felt threatened by competing on their merits with this little gym and doesn't believe the consumer should have a choice.

Bally's Total Fitness(
http://www.ballyfitness.com/company/contact_main.asp ) STILL sucks.


End of rant.

Thanks for reading this far.

If you go to an a local, independently owned gym that you really like you might want to do them a favor and advise them to get their own exclusionary clause to prevent Bally's from doing to them what Bally's did to my gym.

Ugh!

[SeaSiren]

That really makes me sad and angry. I really hate it when the little guys get run out because of large chain stores. :grr:

[Amy SF]

That really stinks! :down: It's the Wal-Martization of America. :evil:

[Blue Plastic Straw]

I don't know that you can really blame Bally's in this. What they're doing is good business from their point of view. Why compete if they don't have to? Blame the shopping center that chose to sign the agreement.

[beforewisdom]

I don't know that you can really blame Bally's in this. What they're doing is good business from their point of view.

Nobody thinks the lame things they do are lame, they always see it as a good thing from their point of view. However, that doesn't make the lame things good. Someone made a conscious decision at Bally's to do that. They are responsible.

You are half right. Someone at the shopping center also consciously chose to ratify the exclusion clause. The shopping center is also partly responsible.

I intend on writing letters to both, politely letting each know how I have no intention of doing business with them in the future.

Steve

[silverundertone]

ive been a member at an independently owned gym for three years now..
http://www.chanfitness.com
there is a lifetime fitness center opening up a mile down the road from my gym..and chances are.it will greatly threaten ..or ruin where i am now..
..all those corporate gyms suck..
they charge too much..for services youll never bother to use..their staff generally sucks..and they have a very un-personal (is that a word?..) environment..

[rabid_child]

This sounds like the premise for the movie Dodgeball...

I go to a small independently owned and operated gym. The guy who owns the place is there all the time, and sometimes he brings his dog. I looked at the NY Sports Club and Ballys in the area, and not only are they WAY more expensive, they felt different. I don't know :\
Either way, sorry you're losing your gym. Is there another one in the area you can join that ISN'T bally's?

[beforewisdom]

This sounds like the premise for the movie Dodgeball...

I go to a small independently owned and operated gym. The guy who owns the place is there all the time, and sometimes he brings his dog. I looked at the NY Sports Club and Ballys in the area, and not only are they WAY more expensive, they felt different. I don't know :\
Either way, sorry you're losing your gym. Is there another one in the area you can join that ISN'T bally's?

Yes, I have other options than Bally's.

[brownieB26]

ive been a member at an independently owned gym for three years now..
http://www.chanfitness.com
there is a lifetime fitness center opening up a mile down the road from my gym..and chances are.it will greatly threaten ..or ruin where i am now..
..all those corporate gyms suck..
they charge too much..for services youll never bother to use..their staff generally sucks..and they have a very un-personal (is that a word?..) environment..

I'm a member at Lifetime Fitness because the small local gym only works with year-long contracts and I'm at school nine months out of the year. The only thing that sucks about it is they are far away. They charge a lot but they're clean, they have a ton of classes and programs for free and I never have to wait for a machine.

ETA: sorry, for a post more on topic: I hate Bally's. I've been there once and they are so dirty and disorganized. They seem to have an attitude that "well, even though we force nice places out of business, you decided to come here and pay next to nothing a month, therefore you get what you pay for and all of our stuff is ****". Plus, in my experience, they always have their clubs right by the road and they're all windows. Sorry, but I really don't like being seen by everyone in my town while I'm covered in sweat.

[April]

It's a shame that you're losing your gym. I hope you find something new that works well for you.

Personally, I'm a member of Bally's. I've attended 5 of their clubs, and none of them have been dirty, over crowded, or poorly run, at least not in my limited experiences. It's not that I don't believe those that say they've had problems. I just think it's a shame that the company doesn't demand more consistency of quality at their many, many locations. The club I attend nowadays is in one of the wealthier suburbs of my larger city, and that has its advantages.

[brownieB26]

I believe you, April. Our Bally's is in a nice neighborhood, but the shopping center it's by hasn't really been kept up very nice at all. In the last year all of the shops have been renovated, but every week there is something in the neighborhood police blotter about something getting stolen from the lockers or the cars getting broken into. It is a shame they don't require the same quality at all of the clubs, though I don't know whether it is the club or if it's the mentality some of the people have around here; they think because this is a nice neighborhood they can leave their cars unlocked and they can leave their million dollar wedding rings in the lockers.