Ida. Athletic Club acquires Total Woman Fitness club

By Brad Carlson

IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW

Idaho Athletic Club expanded again recently by acquiring a fitness center near downtown Boise.

Meridian-based Idaho Athletic entered the growing women’s-only fitness club market with its Jan. 1 acquisition of Total Woman Fitness, and its 10,500-square-foot building on South 15th St., for an undisclosed price from Jess Groves.

Groves owned the health club for about seven years, and is partner in Commercial Real Estate Management.

The club eventually will be named Total Woman Fitness by Idaho Athletic Club. IAC has already started bringing in new equipment, particularly cardiovascular equipment, “which has been a real plus for our members already,” IAC founder Cheryl Wardle said.

Some building and facility upgrades are planned, as well as changes in space utilization to accommodate a complete circuit-training center and probably additional fitness classes, said Shaun Wardle, chief operating officer and Cheryl’s son.

“We feel that we can grow the brand Total Woman Fitness, for several reasons,” he said.

Idaho Athletic, which is building its fourth Treasure Valley health club in southwest Boise’s Blackeagle development, sees strong demand for fitness centers and for “a full-service health club experience exclusively for women,” Shaun said.

The company is taking a total-fitness approach, whereas many women’s clubs emphasize one aspect such as weight loss, Cheryl said.

“We would like to upscale the operation to make it a little more appealing, so that this is the first place you come to” in the women’s fitness club market, she said. Idaho Athletic aims to boost the club’s professional and lunchtime clientele.

Total Woman has about 700 members. Shaun hopes Idaho Athletic can double that this year, with additional program offerings and stepped-up marketing.

Idaho Athletic plans to spend about $100,000 on building upgrades and $75.000 on new equipment at Total Woman Fitness, he said.

“We’ve got at least one new women’s location slated in ’04,” Shaun said.

For Cheryl, buying Total Woman Fitness represents a return, of sorts, to the women’s-only fitness market. In 1978, she founded Idaho Athletic predecessor Cheryl’s Body Shaping in Meridian. The club grew its offerings and membership, but initially, with essentially no weights and an emphasis on group exercise, it attracted primarily women. She and husband John Wardle changed the name to Idaho Athletic Club in 1993.

Other players in the women’s fitness market include Why Weight Women’s Total Fitness Center and Ladies Workout Express –