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| LA Fitness | |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Health Clubs, Exercise |
| Founded | November 1, 1984 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Headquarters | Irvine, California |
Area served | United States Canada |
| Brands | LA Fitness City Sports Club Esporta Fitness |
| Website | www |
LA Fitness is an American gym chain with more than 550 clubs across the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Irvine, California.
LA Fitness was founded in 1984 by founder Chinyol Yi and Louis Welch in Los Angeles, California. [1] Through the mid-1990s, the company expanded by acquiring under-performing fitness clubs in southern California, and by developing, opening and operating newly constructed properties.[ citation needed ]
In 2007, the company expanded outside of the United States by acquiring six fitness clubs in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, the company acquired ten locations in Phoenix from Pure Fitness Arizona. [2] Within a year, all but one of the former Pure Fitness clubs were closed. [ citation needed ]
In the 2009 Collier Township shooting, also referred to as the LA Fitness shooting because it took place in an LA Fitness health club in Collier Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, four people were killed. [3]
On November 30, 2011, the company completed the acquisition of 171 clubs, for $153M, from Bally Total Fitness. LA Fitness then began closing some former Bally Fitness clubs near existing LA Fitness facilities and remodeling others. [4] [5]
On July 2, 2012, the company completed the acquisition of all 33 Lifestyle Family Fitness Clubs in Florida. [6] According to Lifestyle CEO, Stuart Lasher, "we evaluated our option to remain an independent company or to sell to a larger organization. After careful consideration, the board of directors has made the decision to sell all the Lifestyle Family Fitness clubs in Florida to LA Fitness."[ citation needed ]
On December 23, 2013, LA Fitness announced the acquisition of The Buffalo and Rochester Athletic Clubs in western New York. [7]
On December 30, 2013, they completed the acquisition of all 10 Vision Quest Sport and Fitness clubs in the greater Seattle area. [8]
Starting in 2018, LA Fitness offers high-intensity interval training classes at certain renovated clubs for a separate fee, incorporating heart rate monitors by Myzone. [9]
In early 2020, LA Fitness launched their new downmarket Esporta Fitness brand (intended to compete with high-volume, low-price gyms like Planet Fitness), and rebranded several former LA Fitness locations as Esporta Fitness, mostly based on the East coast. [10]
As of 2023, LA Fitness operates locations in twenty-three US states (Arizona, Delaware, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington) and two Canadian provinces (Alberta and Ontario). [11]
In addition to the above states, LA Fitness operates Esporta Fitness locations in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and Ohio. [12]
The Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC is a San Francisco, California, based hotel and restaurant brand owned by IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG) since 2015. Founded in 1981 by Bill Kimpton and led by Chief Executive Officer Mike DeFrino, the group was the largest chain of boutique hotels in the United States in 2011. As of January 2024, it operates 81 hotels worldwide with a number of new properties forthcoming. New hotels have been announced for Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Paris, Barcelona, Charlottesville, Frankfurt, Grenada, Bali, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Rotterdam and Sanya.
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Bally Total Fitness was an American fitness club chain. At its 2007 peak, prior to the filing of the first of two Chapter 11 bankruptcies, Bally operated nearly 440 facilities located in 29 U.S. states, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, China, and the Caribbean under the Bally Total Fitness, Crunch Fitness, Gorilla Sports, Pinnacle Fitness, Bally Sports Clubs, and Sports Clubs of Canada brands.
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.
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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.
Victor "Vic" Tanny was an American bodybuilder, entrepreneur and physical culture advocate. He is considered a pioneer of the modern health club.
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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.
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The Collier Township shooting, also referred to as the Bridgeville LA Fitness shooting, was a mass shooting and murder-suicide that took place on August 4, 2009, in an LA Fitness health club in Collier Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The attack resulted in four deaths, including that of the perpetrator, who killed himself. Nine other people were injured. The fitness center is approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of Pittsburgh, in the Great Southern Shopping Center, a strip mall located in the Kirwan Heights section of Collier Township, just outside of the borough of Bridgeville.
Crunch Fitness is a U.S.-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.
Anytime Fitness is an American franchise of 24 hour health and fitness clubs that is based in Woodbury, Minnesota, United States. The company operates over 5,000 franchised locations in 50 countries. In 2014, Anytime Fitness was named the top franchise of 2014 by Entrepreneur magazine.
PureGym Limited is a British chain of no frills health clubs based in the United Kingdom with multiple gyms around the world. The chain is headquartered in Leeds, West Yorkshire, with additional offices in London and Southampton.
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