Posted on 07/02/2003 12:11:13 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
About 200 employees at a Bally Total Fitness corporate office in Towson will be laid off in mid-August, the company informed the state's labor department last month.
Workforce development officials with the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development also received notice and were told many of the layoffs would come in the company's telemarketing operations, which have been hard hit by new federal government do-not-call regulations.
Officials at Bally's regional service center in Towson and its Chicago-based corporate headquarters could not be reached for comment.
Bally operates five fitness clubs in the Baltimore region.
Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. bills itself as the largest fitness center operator in the United States, with 4 million members working out at more than 400 gyms in 29 states and in Canada, Mexico and Asia. The publicly held company booked $968 million in revenues last year.
Analysts estimate the nation's fitness industry generates $13 billion in business, driven by rising obesity rates and concerns of a fitness-challenged American population. U.S. membership in fitness climbs jumped 7.5 percent lastyear to more than 36 million people, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, an industry trade group.
While members' bodies may be getting harder, the nation's economy remains soft, and that is undercutting many of the gains among fitness club companies. Revenue growth is lagging, analysts say, and more clubs are moving to month-to-month memberships, which makes it harder for companies to maintain healthy retention rates.
...many of the layoffs would come in the company's telemarketing operations, which have been hard hit by new federal government do-not-call regulations.
So the layoffs are in mid-August because Bally has already been hit hard by do-not-call regulations that will go into effect in October.
Screw fitness. I want to get into their time machine business.
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