![]() | |
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Fitness |
Founded | 1979 |
Founder | David Patchell-Evans |
Headquarters | , Canada |
Number of locations | 450+ clubs [1] |
Area served | NL, PE, NS, NB, ON, MB, SK, AB, BC, QC, Lebanon |
Number of employees | 10,000+ |
Subsidiaries | Fit4Less Éconofitness Oxygen Yoga & Fitness Revo Fitness CityFitness |
Website | goodlifefitness.com |
GoodLife Fitness Centres Inc. is the largest health club company in Canada with over 450 locations across the country, under the banner of four brands. [2] [3]
GoodLife was founded in 1979 in London, Ontario by David Patchell-Evans. After suffering multiple broken bones following a motorcycle accident, Patchell-Evans began to workout following rehabilitation. He later bought the gym he exercised in. [4]
In addition to more than 200+ [2] clubs under the GoodLife Fitness brand, the company also operates multiple other fitness companies including Fit4Less, [5] Éconofitness (Quebec), [6] Revo Fitness (Australia) [7] and CityFitness (New Zealand). [8] GoodLife also owns the yoga and Pilates-focused Oxygen Yoga & Fitness. [9] Between GoodLife Fitness and all of its sister brands, the company operates over 450 [10] different fitness locations in Canada.
GoodLife purchased the 'Alliance' and 'Family Fitness' club chains in 2007–2008. By October 2011, the brand had over 275 clubs across Canada. [11] In 2009, GoodLife Fitness expanded into Eastern Canada by acquiring Nubody's family of clubs. [12] GoodLife Fitness also partnered with Energie Cardio in Quebec in that same year. [13] GoodLife Fitness has been rumored to be taking over the Target Canada locations, that are currently abandoned. [14]
In December 2012, Goodlife acquired seven independently operated Gold's Gym locations in Canada. The locations include three clubs in Calgary and one in Airdrie, Alberta, as well as locations in Peterborough, Vaughan and Scarborough in Ontario.[ citation needed ] This made GoodLife the largest fitness club chain in the Calgary Region with 13 locations. The total number of GoodLife Clubs in Alberta increased to 16, spanning from Calgary to Lethbridge to Edmonton.[ citation needed ]
On April 1, 2013, GoodLife Fitness announced its acquisition of Extreme Fitness Inc., a leading operator of fitness clubs in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding region. [15] This acquisition brought the total number of GoodLife Fitness Clubs in Canada to over 300, with 82 in the Greater Toronto Area.[ citation needed ]
In June 2005, GoodLife became the official Canadian Agent of Les Mills International programs, the world's largest provider of choreographed exercise-to-music group fitness classes. [16]
In February 2013, GoodLife Fitness announced a partnership to become the exclusive provider of Jillian Michaels BODYSHRED in Canada. [17]
In 2005, a federal Competition Bureau investigation found that GoodLife Fitness clubs had published misleading ads. In a settlement, Goodlife Fitness published a corrective notice in newspapers throughout central Canada and on its website, paying a $75,000 CAD penalty and agreeing not to make false/misleading representations in future marketing. [18]
In January 2011, GoodLife Fitness came in second place in the CBC Big Gym Ripoff survey ranking gyms with the most problems with over-billing and cancellations. [19]
In January 2011, GoodLife Fitness was caught in a media backlash, [20] [21] [22] after one customer who was attempting to cancel his membership was allegedly 'roughed-up' by security guards at its Rideau Centre location; [23] And after another, at its Orleans location, was chastised and banned for chatting about the benefits of other fitness clubs. [24] The incidents drew attention to strong armed-sales tactics reported by employees and clients. [21]
In 2011, GoodLife Fitness was fined $300,000 for illegally using automated calling devices, known as robocalls, to contact its members, without their prior consent, to advertise the opening of a new club . As part of a settlement with the CRTC, Goodlife Fitness published notices about the violation in newspapers and on its website. [25]
In October 2016, a class action lawsuit was launched against Goodlife Fitness alleging that it had failed to pay certain employees of its Ontario gyms some of the wages they were owed under Ontario law. The members of the proposed class would have included all non-managerial employees for a period beginning October 14, 2014. In July 2018, the court approved a $7.5 million settlement of the proposed class action. [26]
GoodLife Fitness has taken part in Undercover Boss Canada and Canada Sings . [27] [28]
The Rideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street, the ByWard Market, the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street in Downtown Ottawa. Over 20 million people visit the mall annually. It is the largest shopping mall in the National Capital Region and the sixth largest mall, by area, in Canada. The Rideau Centre complex has approximately 180 retailers and is connected to a rooftop park, a Westin Hotel, the Shaw Centre, the Freiman Mall and the Major-General George R. Pearkes Building.
Real Canadian Superstore is a chain of supermarkets owned by Canadian food retailing giant Loblaw Companies. Its name is often shortened to Superstore, or, less commonly, RCSS.
Fitness First is an international fitness centre brand founded in 1993 in the United Kingdom. The company owned and operated its clubs around the world until financial pressures saw parts of the company sold off to various owners in different regions.
CDI College is a private, for-profit career college in Canada. It offers programs in the business, technology and health care fields. The college has 23 campus locations in five Canadian provinces: six in British Columbia, eight in Alberta, one in Manitoba, four in Ontario and five in Quebec. The school has been owned by the Eminata Group since 2007. A 2022 investigation by CBC reported that some recruiters for CDI College lied to applicants about program accreditation and the post-graduation hiring rates of its students.
24 Hour Fitness is a privately held and operated fitness center chain headquartered in Carlsbad, California. It is the second largest fitness chain in the United States based on revenue after LA Fitness, and the fourth in number of clubs, operating 287 clubs across 11 U.S. states. The company was originally founded by Mark S. Mastrov and was sold to Forstmann Little & Co in 2005, and then to AEA investors and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan in 2014.
A health club is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise.
The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is a road-running race held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, every year in the second or third Sunday of October. Aside from the actual marathon, the race also includes a half-marathon. The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is considered Canada's most prestigious road race, also acting as the nation's time-trial event during Olympic cycles.
Fitness International LLC is an American gym chain with over 700 clubs across the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Irvine, California.
Town Sports International Holdings is an operator of fitness centers in Florida and in Puerto Rico. Its current brands include Liv Fitness Clubs, Palm Beach Sports Clubs, and Christi's Fitness. Former brands include New York Sports Clubs, Boston Sports Clubs, Philadelphia Sports Clubs, Washington Sports Clubs, Lucille Roberts, TMPL Gym and Total Woman Gym and Spa.
California Fitness was a fitness company based in Hong Kong. It opened its first club in 1996 at the business district of Hong Kong near Lan Kwai Fong. There were 16 clubs in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. California Fitness was acquired in 1999 by 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, which sold it to the Ansa Group in 2012.
Equinox Holdings, Inc. is an American luxury fitness company and health club headquartered in New York City, New York. The company operates more than 300 club facilities in major cities in the United States, as well as in London, Toronto, and Vancouver in Canada.
Deerfoot City is an outdoor shopping centre located in northeast Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It opened in 1981 as Deerfoot Outlet Mall, just east of Deerfoot Trail on 64th Avenue NE. The 1.1 million square foot shopping centre, owned by Shape Properties, sits on an 80-acre site.
Crunch Fitness is a US-based brand of over 400 franchised and corporate owned fitness clubs located in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Costa Rica, and Australia. Founded by Doug Levine in 1989, its current Worldwide CEO is Jim Rowley.
Target Canada Co. was a short-lived Canadian subsidiary of the Target Corporation, the eighth-largest retailer in the United States. Formerly headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, the subsidiary formed with the acquisition of Zellers store leases from the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in January 2011. Target Canada opened its first store in March 2013, and by January 2015 was operating 133 locations throughout Canada. Its main competition included Walmart Canada, Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Canadian Tire.
The 2011 Canadian federal election voter suppression scandal is a political scandal stemming from events during the 2011 Canadian federal election. It involved robocalls and real-person calls that originated in the Conservative Party of Canada's campaign office in Guelph, Ontario. The calls were designed to result in voter suppression. Elections Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) conducted investigations into the claims that calls were made to dissuade voters from casting ballots by falsely telling them that the location of their polling stations had changed. Further possible electoral law violations were alleged as the evidence unfolded. Under the Canada Elections Act, it is an offence to willfully prevent, or endeavour to prevent, an elector from voting in an election.
Bradley Joseph Annis is an American retired bodybuilder, powerlifter, fitness guru, professional wrestler, gym owner and firefighter. Annis is best known for his work for Stampede Wrestling and his ownership and handling of the Calgary gym at which many of the wrestlers trained. Annis is married to Georgia Hart, the daughter of wrestler Stu and wrestling promoter Helen Hart.
Barre is a form of physical exercise, usually conducted in group classes in gyms or specialty studios. It is distinguished from other group fitness activities by its use of the ballet barre and its incorporation of movements derived from ballet. These classical dance movements and positions are combined with those drawn from yoga and pilates, and other equipment is sometimes used in addition to the barre, such as resistance bands, yoga straps, exercise balls, and hand weights. Barre classes typically focus on small, pulsing movements with emphasis on form, alignment and core engagement. Participants hold their bodies still while contracting specific, targeted sets of muscles in isometric exercises. Repetitions tend to be high, range-of-motion small, and weights, when used, light. Barre classes focus on the lower body and core, developing strength and flexibility from the ankles up though the calves, knees, thighs, glutes and abdominals. Holding muscles in contraction for extended periods frequently leads to them shaking as they fatigue. This is particularly true of thighs, as the quadriceps tire.
Goodlife Health Clubs is a chain of health clubs, with more than 80 locations in Australia.
David 'Patch' Patchell-Evans is a Canadian entrepreneur and business executive. He is the CEO of GoodLife Fitness, a position he has held since founding the gym chain in April 1979.