Cardinal Fitness closed six of its clubs in the Indianapolis area on Tuesday, several media outlets reported.
Cardinal Fitness owners, in a letter to members, thanked them for their support over the past decade. The letter was obtained by TV station Fox 59 WXIN. Another station reported that 7,000 members were affected by the closings.
“As most of us have been trying to cope with our own financial struggles over the past few years, Cardinal Fitness Indianapolis has been feeling the pain as well,” the owners said in the letter. “Operating expenses, marketing costs and an incredible amount of new competition has increased to the point that competing is no longer possible in our current locations.”
The owners also said that they have made arrangements with LA Fitness to transfer memberships. (The LA Fitness corporate office declined to comment.) Other clubs willing to accept memberships include Gold’s Gym and Lifestyle Family Fitness, according to reports. The YMCA of Greater Indianapolis will allow Cardinal Fitness members to work out free of charge through Nov. 15, WRTV 6 reported.
The six locations that closed are Broad Ripple, Greenwood, Fortune Park, Geist, Pendleton Pike and Southport. Cardinal Fitness will continue to operate other locations in Indiana: Avon, Bloomington, Eagle Highlands, Washington Street, Chapel Hill, Fishers and Noblesville.
Conflicting reports had Cardinal Fitness closing seven clubs, but the one on Washington Street—which was listed in the letter as closing—is still open, according to an employee who answered the phone there Wednesday.
The Cardinal Fitness Indianapolis website lists two other clubs in Fort Wayne, Maplecrest and Shorewood Shops, and those will remain open, according to an employee at the Shorewood Shops location. The website also lists five clubs in Wisconsin.
Charter Fitness Franchising LLC, Orland Park, IL, recently converted 38 Cardinal Fitness clubs in the Chicagoland area, northwest Indiana and downstate Illinois to Charter Fitness, bringing the number of Charter Fitness clubs to 46 in six states.
Dan Collins, director of sales for Charter Fitness, said his company is not affiliated with the Indianapolis-based Cardinal Fitness clubs that closed.
“However, we encourage those who lost their jobs to apply for work at Charter Fitness,” Collins said in a statement released today.