Losing money since its new fitness centre opened a year ago, Woolwich is holding the course, confident it can turn the operation around.
The facility, part of the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Elmira, opened in September 2009 after the township struck a deal with Caledon-based Personal Best Health and Performance Inc. to operate it. Rather than accept other bids to simply pay rent for the space, Woolwich opted to pay the company $11,000 a month, with the idea of having more control over the programming offered at the centre.
In the first year of operation, however, there was a shortfall of more than $90,000, as the facility failed to generate anywhere near enough memberships to cover the costs. Revenues were only $42,000.
The facility needs to sell 275 annual memberships just to breakeven. While 298 memberships were sold in the first year, most of those were short-term.
Since June, the facility has made changes and ramped up marketing to increase membership, WMC business development manager Jen Horndl told councillors meeting Tuesday night.
Following her presentation, councillors agreed to keep in place the agreement with Personal Best on a month-by-month basis.
Caron Shepley, who runs Personal Best with her husband Barrie, acknowledged there have been some difficulties getting membership numbers to the desired level. It’s not run as a conventional gym. The goal involves more than simply selling memberships, as many of the programs cater to the wider community, not just club members.
“The fitness industry isn’t an easy business,” she explained. “Going forward, I’m confident that we can generate a profit.”
New measures such as including use of the pool as part of the membership package and the use of pre-authorized monthly payments should help turn things around, said Horndl.
Staff has already seen an increase. Since Aug. 16, there have been 126 new members, though only 21 of those were for a full year. Given the tendency towards short-term memberships, the three-month option may be dropped to encourage longer-term commitment to the facility, she added.
“It’s too easy to let their memberships expire.”
In voting to maintain the relationship with Personal Best for the time being, Coun. Mark Bauman praised Shepley’s staff for the enthusiasm brought to public events as the Try a Tri, a mini-triathlon organized as part of last April’s Healthy Communities Month.
For Mayor Bill Strauss, the positive public feedback warrants giving the company a chance to get on track.
“I’ve heard nothing but compliments – just give it a little more time and everything will go forward,” he said.
