It’s feels like an exodus lately. First Buckhead,Ga and now Decatur. Madison Yards already has massive wait lists. Is it price? Competition? Rent increases?
Another aspect I'm not seeing being mentioned is the lack of community in many studios. They used to be mom and pop locations, with a really welcoming feel, consistent staff and coaches, and social events beyond the studio.
Many locations got bought out by franchises during covid, and they feel... empty. Turnover is high for both staff and members, because it's "just a workout" vs your community that you don't want to leave.
I miss the community I had at Ilovekickboxing.com. The owners of that studio were amazing, knew everybody by name, knew about you from talking to you and getting to know you, would ask about family, vacations, etc, and if you didn't show up for a while, actually acted like they were hurt and concerned about you. The employees at the OTF I signed up at could all barely give a fuck about you lol, they are more busy talking about what they had for lunch.
THIS. I joined OTF in 2019 and I felt like I had a relationship with all of the coaches. Like, there would be a line after class of people waiting to chat/catch up with both the coaches and each other. There would be times I’d have to go ahead and leave bc I ran out of time to chat with X coach, and now as soon as class is over, the coaches are like “ok stay and stretch if you’d like, see y’all later” and dip
I joined in 2019 and had a similar experience! Lots of coach turnover and lower class numbers since Covid. I still think it's a great workout, but it's not the same vibe at all!
Brilliant take 🫶. Our studio normally has an annual party. This year it was cancelled for reasons unknown to me. I guess they don’t want us socializing ?
My home studio has a great community feel. I’ve noticed that when I go to other locations they just don’t feel the same. Our studio has top 10 participation rates for things like transformation challenge which I think is due to the community feel.
I agree with you on this. They used to do pot lucks after hours, happy hours off-site, meet-ups for hikes and such. All of that creates more of a community feel and it’s just not there anymore. Some of our coaches who had their own businesses would do extras after hours like a makeup artist would do a makeup tutorial. Another had a dance studio and did a yearly sexy dance where she’d coordinate a dance and we’d laugh so much at ourselves. I miss those days.
Probably has a lot to do with pricing. A lot of people I know are down to 1 car, have layoffs in the family, are putting groceries on credit cards, etc, and the job market is only getting worse.
It took my partner two years after getting laid off from Google, and he took a more than half pay cut. He's just happy to be working at this point. We had to sell our house and one of our cars, and we're still racking up debt. My OTF sub is next.
Sorry to hear that. Yea at this rate I am looking at any job no matter the pay. The market isn't a place I can make similar pay. I am single so no one else to rely on.
Buckhead was so close to work and I was taking class in Aug and surprised it is close now! Too bad about Decatur and Chamblee. I still have like 5 studios around my house so I think oversaturation is a problem
Personally think it was over expansion pre-covid when HIIT workouts were trendy. Now Pilates is trendy, so 5 new Pilates places are opening around me. Idk if I buy the economic downturn aspect theory of it. It’s like once crumbl cookies inevitably starts closing up stores, ppl will be like it’s because of the cookie prices. Right…it’s not because they opened 1 on every corner when the hype was at its height. I’m not an economist tho, so I don’t really know, just my 2 cents.
It was mostly deserted by the end. When they killed their 5 AMs it was basically the beginning of the end of my time at OTF because the next closest studio was Brookhaven and their space is smaller and would have way more people.
I’m amazed at the popularity of Brookhaven because the studio feels so cramped, but for a while they literally had the absolute best rotation of coaches. It’s still my home studio but I live in Gwinnett now and visit others more often.
Chamblee is in a weird spot for sure. The times I did go, I loved that on the wall with quotes, it said “push yourself” but the second “s” was missing. It says “push your elf”
To me it’s two dynamics: a squeeze where what they can charge for memberships hasn’t budged vs pre pandemic pricing, effectively capping the revenue while the cost side is up dramatically since 2019 in the form of rent utilities supplies and probably also some labor cost. Combine that with the OTF thing being 6yrs older than it was in the pre pandemic massive growth phase, and it’s a nasty confluence of a fitness provider on the back side of its popularity peak, and capped per member revenue opportunity.
Bc if you’re a founding member like I am that signed in 2016, my rate was guaranteed to never increase. New members at my studio are paying $40 more a month than what I pay. And that’s the biggest reason why I will freeze or take breaks here and there but I don’t want to lose my price.
Otf helped changed my life, form seriously good habits. I workout with my sons now but when that alarm goes off I still act like my card is getting charged if I don’t make it. I never paid it in all those years going. I loved that fee, it helped shape me.
Also never paid that fee in 8 years. I think I’ve called to late canceled twice in that time. Both times I was wretched sick, and since it so uncommon for me to cancel, I was never charged.
I did not know Buckhead closed 👀 I’m at another Atlanta-area studio and I hope mine doesn’t. Buckhead had a lot smaller of a schedule than mine does, so that’s a good sign I guess.
I’m so glad I just moved out of the Decatur area, bc Decatur was my home studio for 6 years and I’d be even more devastated if I was still there 😩. In other news, I do know the rent at Decatur OTF was over $25k/month back in 2020 and they almost closed then, so…I guess it was bound to happen :(
I really think this is it. I’m a member of Decatur and a former member of Buckhead. I have 5 studios within a 5 mile radius of my home. They flooded the market and now the Pilates craze is hurting them.
A gym membership is a luxury for many people. Plus, there are more affordable options like big box gyms, home gyms, YouTube trainers/fitness influencers.
And for the premium price, some people want all the bells and whistles. There’s a gym in my hometown that even has a water park included as part of its facility and membership is comparable in cost to OTF
I tend to alternate between Madison Yards and Inman Park. Inman Park is a lot nicer, but Madison Yards is the busiest. I wonder what will happen next month. They said they'll add more classes to make up for the Decatur location closing, but I don't know how convenient the times will be.
Decatur is my home studio. I go at varying times due to 6 months of unemployment. It's never full. There are days that they have to cancel the 4:15 class. Some days that was the last class offered off the day. If they were as busy as Madison Yards I'd think they would not have this issue. Plus they are paying parking for everyone in class. Wait lists are rare except the weekends. There are no 3G classes due to high demand.
I know a coach has mentioned before that they never got back to the pre Covid days attendance wise. I joined towards the tail end of Covid.
There are also other of studios in the area. Emory Point and Northlake are also in Decatur. Then Madison Yards and Inmam Park.
That’s horrible about Decatur…. I agree, I think it’s a pricing issue…especially in this economy.
I live near the McDonough location and have the unlimited pass. I only go 2 days a week but I’m so afraid they will not be profitable and close it that I just kept my membership as is. Just to support. The south side rarely gets the cool stuff so I try to contribute….😩
I know mine will close in five years when the lease is up because the rent is so high. It’s the only business in its complex. I hope they just reopen it in a different building in my same neighborhood instead of just closing it forever. The next closest two are too far away with traffic.
Ohhhh no, I've been on a medical freeze & didn't realize Decatur was closing 😤. I knew about Buckhead (my former home studio), which was alarming. Oh & BTW it's worth noting that they are 2 different ownership groups. I think I might have to look for a contingency plan, b/c n the studios that remain open, I refuse 2 go back 2 the days of long waitlists & extremely crowded classes🤬
I had no idea about Decatur and Chamblee closing. :( I’m spoiled to be in a part of town where I have a couple of options but I’ve worried about one or both of them closing down.
Does anyone know if any others in the Atlanta area made announcement? I think I only got the Buckhead one because that was my home studio several years ago.
I'm in Charlotte, NC and there were 4 studios within walking distance of me ( the furthest was maybe 1.5 miles) and two closed in the last 9 months or so. I think the community aspect is important and the new early entry doesn't help with that, IMO
Buckhead GA was a huge leadership studio within the honors holdings franchise, which has recently decided to divest out of NYC where I worked and closed 2/3 of their studios there. I think it’s a new business strategy for honors holdings specifically. Sad. Hope this helps!!
Wow our studio in white lake mi is so warm and friendly. They ask about you when you’ve missed, they talk afterwards and genuinely make you feel like you belong! This is a new studio and I’m 4 months in. I love it
I’m so grateful for my studio and coaches! I didn’t realize they weren’t all like my home studio but I’ve only been to three other studios, and even that has been a while.
Sad to hear of all these Atlanta area studios closing. Hope it doesn't happen to more. I'm not too far from Chamblee and had been planning to visit at some point but never got around to it. Looks like I have until the 27th before it closes.
They closed three I attended (two in the Denver area and one in Fort Collins). Those are just the ones I know of. The Challenges used to be better too. They’d bring in a nutritionist to talk about nutrition and helped motivate better.
Hey, has anyone else noticed West Midtown's class schedule's gotten pretty slim? Barely anything on Fridays and they never seem full. And no 3G classes... might be the next thing to get cut 😭😭
In my area, it seems Burn Boot Camp took a big bite out of OTF’s consumer base. If you are a suburban mom, the free child minding is hard to turn down even if the workout isn’t exactly for you. I am a suburban mom and their whole thing isn’t for me but I get it.
I was going to comment about BBC. I saw an article, I think it was from Morning Brew, that people are doing less cardio now and more weightlifting. Especially people on Ozempic, weightlifting is more important to keep your muscle mass (and everyone’s on it now). I liked Orange Theory but the weightlifting portion always annoyed me because it was ALWAYS lower body or upper body randomly; there was no way to plan out your lifts. BBC has specified days for each muscle group and they don’t change.
I agree about the free childcare, that’s really huge. And you meet so many other moms (from what I hear, I just joined BBC a few weeks ago and don’t have kids of my own, but my friends do and love it). My gym also has its own book club and FB page too, which my OTF gym didn’t. I joined OTF a few years ago as a way to meet people and never connected with anyone. I went to an OTF class in my new home outside of Atlanta once and there was literally 3 other people in it at 10am on a Saturday. I never went back
100%. It has gotten very repetitive and way too many benchmarks. They went from having a slogan of “never do the same workout twice” to no you’ll do the same workout at least 2x a month
Has anyone seen studios close soon after a big renovation? I’m a member at Alpharetta and they fully redid the studio in august, but I’m still paranoid it’ll close :/
I'd be highly surprised if Alpharetta closes because it has one of the largest number of members in metro Atlanta according to one of the managers at another nearby studio. I go to Alpharetta occasionally just for the 3Gs - it has more 3Gs than any other studio in the area. If they consistently have 3Gs because they can fill them, I doubt they'd close. Especially after investing in that renovation, which I thought was totally unnecessary, lol.
Maybe class schedules too, the only classes mine has in the afternoon is a 4:30 and 5:45, and weekend morning at 7:00 and 8:30. Like i love the classes and workouts but sometimes i wanna sleep in on the weekends, or we have a morning filled with sports, and i wanna get a later workout but can’t.
I guess our studio is the exception and the only one I’ve ever been to for over 800 classes.. very welcoming and supportive. Perhaps we’re an outlier, but I wouldn’t trade my studio for any other. It’s that good. Shout out to Morristown, New Jersey! If you’re from my studio, say hi next time you see me because you know who I am..
The class times are not as accommodating for those that work full-time traditional hours back in the office. I can remember pre-covid having more evening classes. OTF is still on the WFH scheduling and it’s time to go back to the old schedules to accommodate all of us sad souls returning to the office full time.
100% agree. Instead they are closing their 7pm sessions saying it's too late for the coaches and the 7:30 are now 2g instead of 3g so accomodating less people. Us people back in the office now have to look elsewhere.
I can’t imagine the expected lifespan of an OTF studio location is more than 10 years. My studio in NJ is coming up on 9 years and I doubt it will go beyond 10. Membership was over 1,000 the first few years before the local franchisee opened a second location 15 min away. Membership was cut by at least 1/3 and natural attrition, plus COVID, all had their impact. Alpha Fit, Sets, and Lifetime have all entered the market. Membership is in the low-to-mid 400 range now. We have to wait longer for treads or rowers to be fixed, and we still have the older treads. Classes are still 60-75% full depending on time and day (weekends typically 90%+) but it just feels like darker days are coming. Nevermind an assumed lease negotiation at the 10 year mark which will add to operating costs. Meanwhile, I go to that other studio from time to time and it has newer equipment, participates in HYROX, and seems to have better enrollment. Hope I’m wrong.
Another aspect I'm not seeing being mentioned is the lack of community in many studios. They used to be mom and pop locations, with a really welcoming feel, consistent staff and coaches, and social events beyond the studio.
Many locations got bought out by franchises during covid, and they feel... empty. Turnover is high for both staff and members, because it's "just a workout" vs your community that you don't want to leave.
This. So accurate.
100%. It's true at my studio, and I'm only 6 classes in. It's pretty lame actually.
Community vibes were elite pre-Covid. Nowhere near the same.
I miss the community I had at Ilovekickboxing.com. The owners of that studio were amazing, knew everybody by name, knew about you from talking to you and getting to know you, would ask about family, vacations, etc, and if you didn't show up for a while, actually acted like they were hurt and concerned about you. The employees at the OTF I signed up at could all barely give a fuck about you lol, they are more busy talking about what they had for lunch.
THIS. I joined OTF in 2019 and I felt like I had a relationship with all of the coaches. Like, there would be a line after class of people waiting to chat/catch up with both the coaches and each other. There would be times I’d have to go ahead and leave bc I ran out of time to chat with X coach, and now as soon as class is over, the coaches are like “ok stay and stretch if you’d like, see y’all later” and dip
I joined in 2019 and had a similar experience! Lots of coach turnover and lower class numbers since Covid. I still think it's a great workout, but it's not the same vibe at all!
100 percent agree
Brilliant take 🫶. Our studio normally has an annual party. This year it was cancelled for reasons unknown to me. I guess they don’t want us socializing ?
“Community” anything died everywhere when Covid happened
Yes, we did a lot more socializing outside the studio pre-covid. Hardly ever happens now.
My home studio has a great community feel. I’ve noticed that when I go to other locations they just don’t feel the same. Our studio has top 10 participation rates for things like transformation challenge which I think is due to the community feel.
I agree with you on this. They used to do pot lucks after hours, happy hours off-site, meet-ups for hikes and such. All of that creates more of a community feel and it’s just not there anymore. Some of our coaches who had their own businesses would do extras after hours like a makeup artist would do a makeup tutorial. Another had a dance studio and did a yearly sexy dance where she’d coordinate a dance and we’d laugh so much at ourselves. I miss those days.
Probably has a lot to do with pricing. A lot of people I know are down to 1 car, have layoffs in the family, are putting groceries on credit cards, etc, and the job market is only getting worse.
It’s horrible
Can confirm the job market sucks. Been unemployed since July, and no one else I was laid off with has found a job yet.
It took my partner two years after getting laid off from Google, and he took a more than half pay cut. He's just happy to be working at this point. We had to sell our house and one of our cars, and we're still racking up debt. My OTF sub is next.
Sorry to hear that. Yea at this rate I am looking at any job no matter the pay. The market isn't a place I can make similar pay. I am single so no one else to rely on.
I understand. This market sucks.
Same! 9 months and counting.
Good luck. OTF is one sacrifice I am not willing to make.
My guess would be the price. A lot of people can’t afford $150+ gym membership these days
Buckhead and Decatur have MONEY though…. Agree in general. But those two locations shock me.
The rent is probably insane there
competition w/ hyrox? Given those areas, wonder if it just fell out of fashion work out wise.
2 closed in San Antonio, TX … due to low attendance
whatttt which ones? i go to huebner or the quarry on work trips
Bitters and shertz. The two you visit are fine
Buckhead was so close to work and I was taking class in Aug and surprised it is close now! Too bad about Decatur and Chamblee. I still have like 5 studios around my house so I think oversaturation is a problem
I like the south Buckhead location.
Personally think it was over expansion pre-covid when HIIT workouts were trendy. Now Pilates is trendy, so 5 new Pilates places are opening around me. Idk if I buy the economic downturn aspect theory of it. It’s like once crumbl cookies inevitably starts closing up stores, ppl will be like it’s because of the cookie prices. Right…it’s not because they opened 1 on every corner when the hype was at its height. I’m not an economist tho, so I don’t really know, just my 2 cents.
There are so many more pilates and lagree studios opening up around me. Loveee solidcore😍i can finally get the core workout I've been wanting. Haha
Surprised about Buckhead bc that was a popular location. Chamblee was in a really awkward space
It was mostly deserted by the end. When they killed their 5 AMs it was basically the beginning of the end of my time at OTF because the next closest studio was Brookhaven and their space is smaller and would have way more people.
I’m amazed at the popularity of Brookhaven because the studio feels so cramped, but for a while they literally had the absolute best rotation of coaches. It’s still my home studio but I live in Gwinnett now and visit others more often.
Chamblee is in a weird spot for sure. The times I did go, I loved that on the wall with quotes, it said “push yourself” but the second “s” was missing. It says “push your elf”
I don’t live in Georgia anymore, but the Duluth (basically Norcross) location is probably my fave in Gwinnett.
I go there and Sugar Hill. Amelia and Lisa are two of my favorites from those studios, though I like all the coaches!
I think they over expanded in second or third tier metros and some markets just can’t support so many.
Leases not being renewed. Not being able to recover after Covid's impact. My studio is far from where it was pre-Covid numbers.
Several of the gyms in my area had a 10 year lease that expired last year, and they said the rent was double or more what they signed 10 years ago 😢
It's so sad!!
To me it’s two dynamics: a squeeze where what they can charge for memberships hasn’t budged vs pre pandemic pricing, effectively capping the revenue while the cost side is up dramatically since 2019 in the form of rent utilities supplies and probably also some labor cost. Combine that with the OTF thing being 6yrs older than it was in the pre pandemic massive growth phase, and it’s a nasty confluence of a fitness provider on the back side of its popularity peak, and capped per member revenue opportunity.
Enjoy OTF while we still have it.
Why can't they raise rates? I think most people would get over another $5 a month
Because fitness is monopolistic competitive market
Bc if you’re a founding member like I am that signed in 2016, my rate was guaranteed to never increase. New members at my studio are paying $40 more a month than what I pay. And that’s the biggest reason why I will freeze or take breaks here and there but I don’t want to lose my price.
Otf helped changed my life, form seriously good habits. I workout with my sons now but when that alarm goes off I still act like my card is getting charged if I don’t make it. I never paid it in all those years going. I loved that fee, it helped shape me.
Also never paid that fee in 8 years. I think I’ve called to late canceled twice in that time. Both times I was wretched sick, and since it so uncommon for me to cancel, I was never charged.
I did not know Buckhead closed 👀 I’m at another Atlanta-area studio and I hope mine doesn’t. Buckhead had a lot smaller of a schedule than mine does, so that’s a good sign I guess.
I heard it came down to closing Buckhead or South Buckhead and it was based on the rental spaces.
I know South Buckhead recently hired a new head coach. That would’ve sucked to hire him and a few months later shut it down.
I’m so glad I just moved out of the Decatur area, bc Decatur was my home studio for 6 years and I’d be even more devastated if I was still there 😩. In other news, I do know the rent at Decatur OTF was over $25k/month back in 2020 and they almost closed then, so…I guess it was bound to happen :(
25k a month! I wouldn’t have never even guessed that number
And the building was trash. HVAC was out often!
Jeez.
A piece I think to add is over saturation. My area has 7 within a 45 minute radius only 1 of which has regularly full classes
I really think this is it. I’m a member of Decatur and a former member of Buckhead. I have 5 studios within a 5 mile radius of my home. They flooded the market and now the Pilates craze is hurting them.
A gym membership is a luxury for many people. Plus, there are more affordable options like big box gyms, home gyms, YouTube trainers/fitness influencers.
And for the premium price, some people want all the bells and whistles. There’s a gym in my hometown that even has a water park included as part of its facility and membership is comparable in cost to OTF
Chamblee is closing too
Not to mention Chamblee and Brookhaven merging into one :(
I tend to alternate between Madison Yards and Inman Park. Inman Park is a lot nicer, but Madison Yards is the busiest. I wonder what will happen next month. They said they'll add more classes to make up for the Decatur location closing, but I don't know how convenient the times will be.
I’m really hoping they have a consistent 5 am class.
Decatur is my home studio. I go at varying times due to 6 months of unemployment. It's never full. There are days that they have to cancel the 4:15 class. Some days that was the last class offered off the day. If they were as busy as Madison Yards I'd think they would not have this issue. Plus they are paying parking for everyone in class. Wait lists are rare except the weekends. There are no 3G classes due to high demand.
I know a coach has mentioned before that they never got back to the pre Covid days attendance wise. I joined towards the tail end of Covid.
There are also other of studios in the area. Emory Point and Northlake are also in Decatur. Then Madison Yards and Inmam Park.
Life is only getting more and more expensive so I think a lot of people are choosing cheaper ways to work out.
WHATTT, Chamblee too! OMG🤯🤯🤯🤬
That’s horrible about Decatur…. I agree, I think it’s a pricing issue…especially in this economy.
I live near the McDonough location and have the unlimited pass. I only go 2 days a week but I’m so afraid they will not be profitable and close it that I just kept my membership as is. Just to support. The south side rarely gets the cool stuff so I try to contribute….😩
Chamblee, GA also closes at the end of the month
Oh wow no way! Damn.
Also I didn’t realize the Buckhead actually did close. My home studio is South Buckhead and it’s been slower for at least a year now.
I believe one out in Powder Springs closed too because I saw the space listed on FB marketplace 😂 (I’m way on the other side of town)
They closed around the same time as Kennesaw last year. Kennesaw still has the signs up and is sitting empty, almost a year later 😭😭
That’s crazy! Seems like ATL area is definitely taking a hit
Damn :-/
I get semi regular surveys from OTF and one of the questions that is always on it asks how I feel about the current economic situation.
I know mine will close in five years when the lease is up because the rent is so high. It’s the only business in its complex. I hope they just reopen it in a different building in my same neighborhood instead of just closing it forever. The next closest two are too far away with traffic.
Ohhhh no, I've been on a medical freeze & didn't realize Decatur was closing 😤. I knew about Buckhead (my former home studio), which was alarming. Oh & BTW it's worth noting that they are 2 different ownership groups. I think I might have to look for a contingency plan, b/c n the studios that remain open, I refuse 2 go back 2 the days of long waitlists & extremely crowded classes🤬
The studio here in Mandeville, LA, is closing. Crunch Fitness opened... that did it.
I had no idea about Decatur and Chamblee closing. :( I’m spoiled to be in a part of town where I have a couple of options but I’ve worried about one or both of them closing down.
Does anyone know if any others in the Atlanta area made announcement? I think I only got the Buckhead one because that was my home studio several years ago.
Chamblee is closing too
I'm in Charlotte, NC and there were 4 studios within walking distance of me ( the furthest was maybe 1.5 miles) and two closed in the last 9 months or so. I think the community aspect is important and the new early entry doesn't help with that, IMO
This makes me nervous about OTF.
I loved Buckhead and I’m still not over it closing.
Just learned today that chamblee is also closing and sending us Brookhaven which I hear is smaller and packed already
The Brookhaven studio is one of my least favorites. IMO, it’s too small of a space.
Not to mention zero parking at the brookhaven studio
That part!
Buckhead GA was a huge leadership studio within the honors holdings franchise, which has recently decided to divest out of NYC where I worked and closed 2/3 of their studios there. I think it’s a new business strategy for honors holdings specifically. Sad. Hope this helps!!
Sorry - what does that mean? I don’t know what “honors holding” means.
It’s a group that owns a good chunk of studios. Do a quick search. Theres been a lot of drama surrounding their take over and business activities.
Wow our studio in white lake mi is so warm and friendly. They ask about you when you’ve missed, they talk afterwards and genuinely make you feel like you belong! This is a new studio and I’m 4 months in. I love it
I’m so grateful for my studio and coaches! I didn’t realize they weren’t all like my home studio but I’ve only been to three other studios, and even that has been a while.
I'd imagine a lot of the long term leases are coming up. Even if the studio has a lot of members, the new rents wouldn't be economical.
Sad to hear of all these Atlanta area studios closing. Hope it doesn't happen to more. I'm not too far from Chamblee and had been planning to visit at some point but never got around to it. Looks like I have until the 27th before it closes.
I wonder about West Midtown
Smyrna seems to be one of a few studios in ATL with 5ams every weekday.
I feel they got greedy and a bit negligent and then post Covid they really started to not really care.
They closed three I attended (two in the Denver area and one in Fort Collins). Those are just the ones I know of. The Challenges used to be better too. They’d bring in a nutritionist to talk about nutrition and helped motivate better.
Our studio owner didn’t pay his rent for months we got just 2 days notice of closure.
That’s horrible
Hey, has anyone else noticed West Midtown's class schedule's gotten pretty slim? Barely anything on Fridays and they never seem full. And no 3G classes... might be the next thing to get cut 😭😭
I won’t go there because of parking. It’s atrocious.
That's true. And all those break ins. Ughh
there is a reason they are pushing the pay a year in advance
C'mon out West to OTF Douglasville - fun family community!
No where close to me and I’ve been there. I miss Coach Julie. She played 80s music!
She was the best!! We miss her too
I think members are getting transferred to Madison yard, but come to Emory point! I enjoy this location
I hate it. Shower is way too small and I need it after my workout.
Where I am at, it’s competition.
Also, A lot of people got burned out. I stopped in September after 1000 classes, but it felt like every class became a benchmark.
Seems like they got the message so far this year. Cutting back on the benchmarks and the templates so far feel fresh
Great to hear. Might reconsider in the spring. I adore OT’s tread block. It’s such a high
In my area, it seems Burn Boot Camp took a big bite out of OTF’s consumer base. If you are a suburban mom, the free child minding is hard to turn down even if the workout isn’t exactly for you. I am a suburban mom and their whole thing isn’t for me but I get it.
I was going to comment about BBC. I saw an article, I think it was from Morning Brew, that people are doing less cardio now and more weightlifting. Especially people on Ozempic, weightlifting is more important to keep your muscle mass (and everyone’s on it now). I liked Orange Theory but the weightlifting portion always annoyed me because it was ALWAYS lower body or upper body randomly; there was no way to plan out your lifts. BBC has specified days for each muscle group and they don’t change.
I agree about the free childcare, that’s really huge. And you meet so many other moms (from what I hear, I just joined BBC a few weeks ago and don’t have kids of my own, but my friends do and love it). My gym also has its own book club and FB page too, which my OTF gym didn’t. I joined OTF a few years ago as a way to meet people and never connected with anyone. I went to an OTF class in my new home outside of Atlanta once and there was literally 3 other people in it at 10am on a Saturday. I never went back
I'm soooo over the benchmarks!
100%. It has gotten very repetitive and way too many benchmarks. They went from having a slogan of “never do the same workout twice” to no you’ll do the same workout at least 2x a month
Has anyone seen studios close soon after a big renovation? I’m a member at Alpharetta and they fully redid the studio in august, but I’m still paranoid it’ll close :/
I'd be highly surprised if Alpharetta closes because it has one of the largest number of members in metro Atlanta according to one of the managers at another nearby studio. I go to Alpharetta occasionally just for the 3Gs - it has more 3Gs than any other studio in the area. If they consistently have 3Gs because they can fill them, I doubt they'd close. Especially after investing in that renovation, which I thought was totally unnecessary, lol.
West Beaverton closed a few weeks ago here in Oregon.
Maybe class schedules too, the only classes mine has in the afternoon is a 4:30 and 5:45, and weekend morning at 7:00 and 8:30. Like i love the classes and workouts but sometimes i wanna sleep in on the weekends, or we have a morning filled with sports, and i wanna get a later workout but can’t.
We just had 2 close on my side of San Antonio. Not my home studio though 🙏🏽🙏🏽
I guess our studio is the exception and the only one I’ve ever been to for over 800 classes.. very welcoming and supportive. Perhaps we’re an outlier, but I wouldn’t trade my studio for any other. It’s that good. Shout out to Morristown, New Jersey! If you’re from my studio, say hi next time you see me because you know who I am..
When is Decatur closing? The app shows classes scheduled through Feb 6.
January 27th is the last day
The class times are not as accommodating for those that work full-time traditional hours back in the office. I can remember pre-covid having more evening classes. OTF is still on the WFH scheduling and it’s time to go back to the old schedules to accommodate all of us sad souls returning to the office full time.
100% agree. Instead they are closing their 7pm sessions saying it's too late for the coaches and the 7:30 are now 2g instead of 3g so accomodating less people. Us people back in the office now have to look elsewhere.
I can’t imagine the expected lifespan of an OTF studio location is more than 10 years. My studio in NJ is coming up on 9 years and I doubt it will go beyond 10. Membership was over 1,000 the first few years before the local franchisee opened a second location 15 min away. Membership was cut by at least 1/3 and natural attrition, plus COVID, all had their impact. Alpha Fit, Sets, and Lifetime have all entered the market. Membership is in the low-to-mid 400 range now. We have to wait longer for treads or rowers to be fixed, and we still have the older treads. Classes are still 60-75% full depending on time and day (weekends typically 90%+) but it just feels like darker days are coming. Nevermind an assumed lease negotiation at the 10 year mark which will add to operating costs. Meanwhile, I go to that other studio from time to time and it has newer equipment, participates in HYROX, and seems to have better enrollment. Hope I’m wrong.
Buckhead has/had three location within 5 miles of each other. I will miss the one off Piedmont but I only have to drive 2 miles to the next one