VI Fitness Centres members, trainers and staff showed up Wednesday to find the doors locked at its eight Island locations, and printed notices declaring the company is bankrupt.
Spencer Salmond, five-year VI Fitness trainer at the University Heights location in Saanich, said he received emails from clients asking what was happening that morning. But nobody from the company called to say anything.
“It’s a bit of a shock because we didn’t see it coming and we have barely had a chance to even react,” said Salmond.
Floriane Shala, a few days into a seven-day pass to VI Fitness, said she had seen no clues that that anything was wrong. “It seemed all right,” Shala said, after discovering the locked doors at University Heights. “There was always lots of people there and it seemed like a good business.”
The notices, taped to the doors, declared VI Fitness Centres Inc. had declared bankruptcy and referred all questions to the bankruptcy trustee, The Bowra Group Ltd. of Vancouver.
VI Fitness Centres Inc. operated gyms in Saanich, Langford, Oak Bay, Saanichton, Nanaimo (two), Courtenay and Campbell River. The website of the firm was offline on Wednesday.
Shareholders in the chain, cousins and brothers of the same family, have been involved in a dispute at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver over allegations of money owed and breaches of terms and conditions.
But Mario Mainella, senior vice-president of Bowra Group, said he knows of no connection between that legal issue and the business failure of VI Fitness Centres.
“This [bankruptcy] was strictly a business decision,” said Mainella. “This was a company that was losing money and the owner had to keep putting money in on a monthly basis and it had to stop.”
He estimated the number of employees at VI Fitness at about 100, with another 80 to 100 contractors. Mainella said Bowra will work to give employees as quickly as possible any documents needed to file under the federal Wage Earner Protection Program to seek money owed.
He said he did not have accurate information about how many members VI Fitness had. Investigations are underway to see if members can be compensated, but it’s unlikely that membership fees will be refunded, he said.
Mason Pynn, another trainer at the University Heights gym and a colleague of Salmond, said he had thought that location would close in the next few years because of plans to redevelop University Heights. Under the plan, not yet approved, anchor tenants Home Depot and Save-on-Foods would not be affected but apartments would be built where the gym sat. “We had an idea that at some point it was going to close,” Pynn said. “We just didn’t realize it would be this soon and this abrupt.”
Member Teale Orrick is feeling peeved that she paid for a six-month membership at $60 a month. “I paid for all these months ahead of time, six months ahead of time, and now they are all gone,” said Orrick, outside the University Heights location.
Over in Oak Bay at the VI Fitness Centre for Women, movers were already removing exercise equipment and other gear, leaving a bare space.
Outside, Patti Hunter said she has been working at that spot for 17 years and most recently taught two classes per week. She said she knows clients and instructors who have been there 25 years.
The sudden shutdown will affect relationships that have formed and endured through many, many years, she said. “It’s really about the community of women here. We have formed real friendships and gone through a whole myriad of life changes together.
“It’s more of a community than a fitness business,” she said. “It’s a shame.”
