Xperience Fitness, which served Wisconsin gym-goers through seven locations for the past 11 years, suddenly announced that it would be closing, much to the surprise of clients and staff.
As reported by Green Bay's WLUK, the chain posted notice on social media that all of its locations would cease operation permanently June 29, with memberships transferred to rival Planet Fitness.
"Our general manager was supposed to be on vacation all week, and he was there. So, I was like, 'What are you doing here?' " said Paige Meyer, a personal trainer at Xperience Fitness for the past six years — more than half of the franchise's existence. "And he just said, 'We've been sold. The gym's closing at 9 o'clock tonight,' like, 'Contact your clients, I'm so sorry,'" said Meyer. "He was in tears."
An assistant manager told WLUK that Planet Fitness bought out the gyms.
Meyer went in for her normal shift at 5 a.m. Hours later, she was told she no longer had a job.
"I mean, a lot of people were coming in that had no idea the gym was closing, and all the employees were gathering their things," said Meyer. "Everyone said it was like a last day of school type of vibe in there."
In its announcement, Xperience Fitness stated, "This was an incredibly difficult decision, and we apologize about this unfortunate news. Thank you to all our staff members, trainers and most importantly our amazing members for 11 years of fitness."
Thomas Dierks had just started working five weeks ago for the chain's location in Appleton, Wis.
"I applied as a personal trainer, and I just got done with their three-week training camp program," Dierks said, as reported by WLUK. "I was planning on being here for a pretty long time. I thought it was a really good start for my personal training career, but with this happening, it just turned everything around."
Tom Shambeau has been going to Xperience Fitness as a member for more than three years. "I checked Facebook quick before I left, and I see an article that said Xperience Fitness closes all locations, and I was like, 'Wow, that's surprising. It seemed fine yesterday,'" Shambeau said, as reported by WLUK. "And I just got charged yesterday for my next month's membership, so I was like, that's kind of weird timing for that."
Signs posted on gym doors informed members that their memberships had been transferred to the nearest Planet Fitness location.
"I've never been to a Planet Fitness, so I'm not 100% sure if I like it there or not," Shambeau said. "The part I don't like is that people weren't given the option, and I know a lot of people are opinionated on how they like their gym to be set up and different things."
It's not known what will happen to the current Xperience Fitness locations.
