Anytime Fitness Caters to Exercise Enthusiasts 24/7
business, mark stevens, recreation, tupelo, tupelo’s anytime fitness,
Five years ago, Mark Stevens was living a life like many successful men his age. Now, he’s living a life most men dream of – and helping others get healthy in the process.
Stevens is co-owner, with Susan and Kirk Presley, of Tupelo’s Anytime Fitness club, as well as other franchise locations in North Mississippi and North Alabama.
As the name implies, Anytime Fitness clubs are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week – a distinction that has made the Hastings, Minn.-based company one of the world’s leading fitness franchises.
Entrepreneur magazine has dubbed it the fastest-growing franchise in the country and one of the top 70 franchises in the world.
What makes his company stand out, Stevens says, is convenience coupled with state-of-the art equipment in smaller, scrupulously clean and well-maintained facilities.
“What also sets us apart is that we try very hard to build a culture that’s very accepting of people,” Stevens says. “Big clubs are generally occupied by people already fit, or body builders. We are for normal people who want to maintain good health or who are out of shape, needing and wanting to improve their fitness and health, maybe lose a few pounds so they look better.”
The company is so devoted to keeping that comfort level for non-jocks that they intentionally limit the amount of body-building equipment in their clubs to encourage serious weightlifters to work out elsewhere.
Anytime Fitness clubs are staffed during the day but are not staffed at night, making them far more economical to run, Stevens says. Members work out after hours in a locked facility and wear alarm necklaces in case accidents or emergencies occur – something that has never happened at Stevens’ clubs.
Among the club’s late-night customers are medical personnel, restaurant staff and other shift workers – some 40 or so most nights between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. – who enjoy “time to wind down on the way home.”
Despite the lack of staff, the clubs are not just bare-bones rooms. Besides top-of-the-line equipment, Tupelo’s club offers showers, tanning, drink machines, a group exercise room, classes and a child-care area. It boasts more than 1,000 members (AF clubs average 700-800 members) and is one of the most successful franchises in the company.
Stevens himself was a physically fit young father and Texas businessman when he discovered the Anytime Fitness Web site while looking for a way off the corporate treadmill. Blessed with material success, he says, he was tired of putting in long hours that kept him from his family.
“I was working 50 or 60 hours a week for a software development company and was a weekend dad,” says Stevens, who with his wife, Kristie, has four children. “The Anytime Fitness concept allows me to have a lifestyle where I don’t have to be tied to my business. In a typical small business, if an employee doesn’t show up, you’re in trouble. Having no staff allows me the flexibility to be with our family more.”
Story by Laura Hill
Photo by Jeff Adkins
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