E. S. P. Retail Showcase

Focus -  Sports & Recreation

COMPILED BY JANET HELLER

LIFE TIME

FITNESS

 

Life Time Fitness operates a chain of health and fitness clubs with emphasis on instruction and indoor sports.

 

Life Time Fitness founder Bahram Akradi grew up in Tehran, IRAN. In 1978, when he was 17, he was able to fulfill a lifelong dream by emigrating to the United States. After settling in Colorado Springs, Colorado where his brother already lived, Akradi worked in restaurants to support himself and to pay his own way through college, eventually obtaining a degree in electrical engineering. During his fourth year in the U.S., he took a job at a health club, working his way up from cleaning the club and its pool to managing the facility. When the owners of the club decided they wanted to expand operations by opening a location in Minneapolis, Akradi was asked to help with the move. He worked on selling memberships and was involved in pricing, in the physical design and in the overall game plan for the new fitness center. The new Nautilus Swim and Fitness club was a success, and within a month of moving to Minneapolis, Akradi was made a partner in the company. By 1984, under his direction of site selection, development, and sales and operations, the concept grew to three locations. In 1985, the company, with two more locations operating and two other deals in the works, changed its name to U.S. Swim and Fitness Clubs. The chain’s success was notable enough that Bally’s made an offer to buy it, which was accepted. Akradi stayed on with Bally’s under a five-year contract, but he decided to strike out on his own about three years later. Because he had a non-compete clause with Bally’s and could not open a similar facility in Minnesota, he focused his attention on opening a large club in San Francisco. Unable to obtain financing for his vision, Akradi returned to Minnesota after his non-compete clause expired. He had to liquidate all his personal assets to open a 27,000-sq.ft. club in Brooklyn Park, MN in a location where three other clubs had already failed. Akradi set a goal to sell 2,700 memberships in a year; he made it with 2,702. Today that original club is one of the best revenue producers in the Life Time Fitness chain.

 

 The Life Time Kids’ Club offers special activities for young members. Playmazes, ball pits and junior sport courts keep kids active.

 

Life Time Fitness offers a full range of equipment, facilities, instruction and education for exercise and indoor sports.

 

The company publishes its own magazine, Life Time Fitness Experience.

Educational instruction includes: the Life Time Fitness University, which offers free training for employees, members and communities; free educational seminars; corporate wellness programs; certified personal trainers; the “What a Difference” Program, which provides education on nutrition, metabolism and healthy lifestyles; and free child care centers featuring personal computers and junior sport courts.

 

 

 

 

Sports and exercise elements include: cardiovascular and resistance training equipment; basketball, volleyball, racquetball and squash; swimming pools, waterslides, whirlpools and saunas; climbing walls and caverns; adult athletic leagues; and instructional programs for subjects ranging from swimming and skiing to self-defense and social dance. Life Cafes offer venues for relaxation and healthy foods.

 

 

 

Expansion: Life Time Fitness has an aggressive expansion plan for 2000 and plans to open in four new markets in 2001. The company uses space in the 105,000 sq.ft. range in upper- to middle-income residential suburbs, office parks and major metropolitan downtown areas. Life Time has its own construction company, so it prefers to purchase land unless a unique opportunity presents itself as it did in Columbus, Ohio, where a 100,000-sq.ft. facility is anchoring The Town Center at Easton.  Life Time also recently announced its plan to take over the historic 84-year-old Minneapolis Athletic Club and turn the facility into a premiere downtown athletic club.

 

Parent Company: Life Time Fitness, Inc.

 

Locations: Life Time Fitness currently operates 10 locations in Minnesota, as well as facilities in Centerville, Virginia; Indianapolis, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; and Novi, Shelby Township and Troy, Michigan.

 

Management: Life Time Fitness has retained its base in Minnesota, with company headquarters in Eden Prairie. Founder Bahram Akradi acts as president; Mark Zaebst is vice president of real estate development.

 

Revenue: Company revenues are expected to reach $60 million in 1999.

 

Contact Information: Mark Zaebst, vice president of real estate development, Life Time Fitness, Inc., 6442 City West Parkway, Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344; 612-947-0000, Fax 612-947-0002. Visit the company’s website at www.lifetimefitness.com.