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Exercisers Sweat Abrupt Gym Closings ; Two Beyond Fitness Gyms Close, Leaving Members Looking for Refunds and Spurring an Investigation.

Posted on: Friday, 25 February 2005, 00:00 CST

Two local gyms unexpectedly shut their doors earlier this week, ticking off exercisers who'd paid for memberships in advance.

The Beyond Fitness gyms on Battleground Avenue and High Point Road were cleared out after closing time Monday.

Members said they weren't notified in advance of the shutdowns, leaving them peering through windows when they showed up for a workout.

"I joined three weeks ago," said Jarrett S. Holmes, who forked over $100 in cash for his one-year membership. "I worked out once."

The sudden closings are being investigated by the N.C. Attorney General's Office, which had received more than 40 complaints about the gyms by late Wednesday afternoon.

William McKinney, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said Beyond Fitness had taken out a secured bond for the memberships, meaning that members could get some sort of refund. Such bonds are required by state law.

"We're actively investigating to see what we can do to see that consumers get some compensation," McKinney said.

It remains unclear as to why the gyms shut down.

The nine Beyond Fitness gyms in the Triangle were open Wednesday, and calls to the Beyond Fitness corporate office in Cary were not immediately returned. Both Greensboro locations formerly operated as Gold's Gyms, whose signs still hang outside the fitness centers.

What is clear is that Beyond Fitness had been talking to AC Fitness, a local gym on West Market Street, about honoring the Beyond Fitness memberships. Those talks ended abruptly and without a deal, said Sandy Arrington, AC Fitness' assistant manager.

Still, AC Fitness began seeing Beyond Fitness members coming through its doors Tuesday, saying they had been told memberships would be honored there.

The source appeared to be a letter from the Beyond Fitness corporate office. The letter, dated Feb. 18, told members that Beyond Fitness had transferred all its records to AC Fitness.

The letter, however, offers little information as to why the fitness centers closed.

A view from outside the gyms on Wednesday offered clues that the gym had been vacated quickly, with a few weights scattered on the floor and empty water bottles littering a desk.

"We tried to move our locations to bigger and better gym locations," the letter said. "Unfortunately, that did not work out as we had planned."

Arrington said the Beyond Fitness records were never delivered to AC Fitness.

"We hadn't heard anything from them in over a week," he said.

He added that his gym will nevertheless honor Beyond Fitness memberships for up to one year, as long as exercisers sign up for an additional year with AC Fitness.

The gym closings completely surprised many members, some of whom joined Beyond Fitness within the past month.

The parking lot outside the High Point Road location was often crammed with cars during peak hours, and the owner of a nearby deli, Saliba Hanhan, said the gym was "a very, very busy place."

Members said they were attracted by Beyond Fitness' cheap memberships - $100 per year or even less in some cases.

"There's no place around that even comes close to $100 for a whole year," the 33-year-old Holmes said.

Bob Williams, 76, who lives just down the street from the Battleground Avenue gym, says he just spent $250 on a

2 1/2-year deal with Beyond Fitness. Now he's hoping the attorney general's office can get him his money back.

His wife's one-year membership cost an additional $100.

"She hasn't even had a chance to use it yet," he said.

Contact Nate DeGraff at 373-7024 or ndegraff@news-record.com YES

Source: Greensboro News Record

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