Customers shocked as gym chain and Planet Fitness rival suddenly closes all locations without warning
A GYM chain has suddenly closed all of its locations in one state, leaving employees and customers in shock.
Xperience Fitness has been serving Wisconsin gym-goers at multiple locations for over a decade.
On June 29, the gym locked its doors and transferred all of its customers’ memberships to their rival Planet Fitness – without any warning.
When personal trainer Paige Meyer called into work before her shift at Xperience Fitness, where she had been employed for six years, her manager gave her the unbelievable news.
“He just said, ‘We’ve been sold. The gym’s closing at 9 o’clock tonight,’ like, ‘Contact your clients, I’m so sorry,'” Meyer told Fox 11 News.
“He was in tears.”
Within hours, she was without 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.”
Later that night, Xperience Fitness announced the decision in a Facebook post, writing: “As of today, we are sad to announce the permanent closing of all Wisconsin Xperience Fitness Clubs.”
“This was an incredibly difficult decision and we apologize about this unfortunate news.”
The chain thanked its staff and community and said: “Our focus is and always will be on our members, and we look forward to continuing to serve our Minnesota members.”
Customers said they didn’t understand why the decision wasn’t announced earlier.
“I checked Facebook quick before I left, and I see an article that said Xperience Fitness closes all locations,” said Tom Shambeau, who had been going to the gym for three years.
“And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s surprising. It seemed fine yesterday.'”
“And I just got charged yesterday for my next month’s membership, so I was like, that’s kind of weird timing for that,” he said.
A former assistant manager told Fox 11 that the company had been sold to rival Planet Fitness.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Xperience Fitness for comment.
