Julie and Richard Foster enjoy the Silver Sneakers program at Miramont Lifestyle Fitness. Photo by Clayton Jenkins.

There's a famous Bette Davis line in the 1950 movie "All About Eve" in which she says, "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

Fitness club owners should have heard Davis' line any night last September, October or November — or for that matter, any night leading up to what we all know is the current economic recession. Although the calendar says it's February, club owners are still tightening their belts in this troubled economy. In order to survive, they will need to hold on to their members, hold on to their staff, put a hold on their membership pricing and hold down their expenses.

Several club owners and operators have weathered the storms of past economic turbulence, such as the early 1980s and early 1990s. These veterans not only can use their experience to get through this recession, but their methods and practices can help other club owners stay in business, too. As Gainesville (FL) Health and Fitness Centers owner Joe Cirulli puts it, "I've worked for so many clubs when I started that went bankrupt, I'm always ready for a recession."

Red Lerille has operated Red Lerille's Health and Racquet Club in Lafayette, LA, for 46 years. Without bragging or boasting, Lerille says his club is doing well in this economy, largely because of the healthy oil industry in and around Lafayette. If gas prices went back up to $4 a gallon, Lerille says he'd be doing even better, and one suspects that he isn't joking.

Back in the 1980s, though, everything could have crumbled around Lerille and his club. The oil bust at that time cost Lerille 1,700 of his 6,000 members in the span of just six weeks. Lerille and his staff, many of whom also were affected by the oil bust, quickly met to hammer out details about how to keep the club afloat.

The staff decided to work harder, each putting in an extra five hours a week. The club started closing at 10 p.m., one hour earlier than normal. There were no layoffs, but when a staff member left the club, that position was not filled. The club also did some little things, such as removing the club's logo from towels and cups. It was important, Lerille says, that members did not notice that the club had made these changes.

After six months, the club had survived, and the staff went back to working normal hours. Lerille, who won the Mr. America title in 1960, even treated himself to a Lamborghini.

"Things were rolling pretty good," Lerille says. "I had a birthday coming on, and I like to buy nice gifts for myself."

From 2007 to 2008, Lerille's club increased its revenue from $10.3 million to $11 million and increased its memberships from 9,111 to 9,329. Lerille says he currently has about 16,000 active members at his 200,000-square-foot multisport club.

So yes, things are looking good these days for Lerille. But, he adds, it took the club about five years to fully recover from that oil bust.

At Your Service

Rick Beusman, president of Saw Mill Sports Management, Mount Kisco, NY, oversees four Saw Mill Clubs, three in New York and one in Connecticut. Beusman keeps tabs with other multisport operators around the country, and he says most of them have produced similar revenue figures to those of his company over the past few months.

Sales were down and retention was up at most clubs in the fourth quarter of 2008, Beusman says, producing a decrease in revenue of anywhere from 10 percent to 25 percent. In January, however, Beusman says his clubs and others hit their projected numbers.

"The bleeding stopped typically for people in December," Beusman says. "We weathered a big bump."

Cirulli says his clubs' sales and cash flow have remained strong during the recession because his retention rates have remained high.

"As we move forward, the key issues are looking for new ways to grow membership," Cirulli says.

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