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Curves continues worldwide expansion
Fitness franchise, Curves for Women, has announced that it has opened 28 clubs in the UK since August 2003 – with a further 60 to 65 set to open in the next few months.
In Ireland, there are now 18 clubs open, with a further 40 under contract to open in the near future.
Sales director, UK & Ireland, Jim Johnson, said there is still room for expansion in the UK, however, predicting the country could easily support 1,000 Curves for Women sites.
“We work on a catchment area of 50,000 people per club,” he said.
“So taking London as an example, we currently have five or six sites within the M25 area, but with the city’s population we could easily open up to 200.”
The company has also announced plans to move the concept into the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong and Japan. Johnson said the company is currently in negotiations, but expects to see the first club – most likely to be in Dubai – open within the next six months and sites in other countries in the region opening soon afterwards.
Curves for Women has grown from 2,500 to 8,000 clubs in the last two years and now has franchisees in the US, Canada, South America, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy, as well as the UK and Ireland. It aims to have up to 11,000 clubs worldwide by 2005.
It has been named number two franchise in the world – after Subway – the last two years in a row and was also named fastest growing franchise in history by Reuters, based on number of locations opened in the shortest time. Curves for Women also launched a diet book on 1 January this year, which was serialised over four days in the Daily Mail