By Susan Dickson, Staff Writer
CARRBORO — After closing for three months for renovations, downtown gym Carolina Fitness reopened as a Kinetix Health Club on Monday – and not a moment too soon for some of its members.
Carolina Fitness owner David Gillespie partnered with Kinetix, a Georgia-based health club chain, to renovate and reopen the gym, which closed for renovations on June 12. Several members told The Citizen they were upset with the lack of communication regarding the closure, saying they were only informed via a piece of paper taped to the gym’s front door about a week prior.
Manager Alex Velazquez, who has worked with Carolina Fitness since 1999, said gym staff didn’t give customers a timeframe for the closure because they weren’t sure how long the renovations would take.
“Everything in the club was touched up,†he said. The space has new wood floors, fresh paint and a new roof, in addition to mostly new equipment.
“This was all for [the members],†Velazquez said.
Ruth Newnam, a member of Carolina Fitness, said she would have liked to have had some communication from gym management via email or their website.
“I was pretty happy with the gym initially; but when they closed for renovations, they just didn’t communicate that to us at all,†she said. Newnam said when she asked gym staff about the notice on the door, she was told the gym would be closed for at least a week and that she could use the Chapel Hill Kinetix, which Gillespie and Kinetix owner Mark Cullars opened on Elliot Road in January.
“I tried that, and the first day I went over there it took me 17 minutes to drive there,†said Newnam, who lives across the street from the Carrboro gym.
Weeks later, she said, she was told that the gym would open on Labor Day.
“There were several of us in the parking lot waiting to go work out,†Newnam said, when a contractor came outside to inform them that the gym was closed.
“I’m not so upset about the renovation, because I know it needed it,†she said. “The lack of communication has sort of inconvenienced us further.â€
Newnam said she has tried to speak with the gym owners several times, but has never received a response.
“I go to the gym to be healthier, fitter, stronger and happier, and I’m walking in there with just this hostility in me,†she said. “I want to come out feeling better and being able to treat other people better, knowing that I’ve taken care of myself.
“I guess it would be something resembling an apology that I want,†she said. “I would also like to know that they are looking to be a part of wellness in this community and not just trying to make a buck off people who pay and don’t come to the gym.â€
Velazquez said he did not want to comment on the concerns of members regarding the closure, adding that members can speak to him personally about their specific concerns.
“I am here every day to talk to you in person,†he said. “This is your club.â€
In addition, Velazquez said he did not want to discuss whether Carolina Fitness members’ contracts were still valid or if they would need to sign a new contract, saying that it was too complicated to put in the newspaper.
Kristy Ford, a member of Carolina Fitness off and on since 2005, said she thought the club should offer its members some kind of compensation for the time that it was closed.
“My thought was that what they should do, because they were closed for three months, is they should extend the length of everyone’s contract by the period of time that they were closed,†she said. “I paid for 12 months. I didn’t pay for nine months.â€
Ford said the closure was especially inconvenient because it was during the hot summer months. “That’s why we joined a gym – for rainy days, cold days and hot days,†she said.
Ford, who lives next door to the Carrboro Kinetix, said Velazquez told her there was a clause in her contract stating that in the event they had to close they would make a facility within an 8-mile radius available to members.
“I don’t really get in a car unless I have to, so that wasn’t really an option for me,†she said, adding that when she signed her contract there was only one Carolina Fitness location.
“I guess I was agreeing to that, but I didn’t realize … that it would affect me, because I thought that they were only a one-location gym.â€
Velazquez said gym staff is planning a grand opening and member-appreciation celebration sometime in the next couple of weeks.
“Right now we’re just happy to have the club open for everybody,†he said.

I’ve been a Carolina Fitness member since February 2010 and even though the facilities weren’t the best, I was happy there because it got the job done and it was right next to my house (certainly the reason why I signed). Over the course of the summer months, I was told that the gym would be closed for two weeks, then for a month, then that it would reopen at the first of August, then at the end of the first week of August and now, three months later, they’re open again and we’re supposed to think that this gym somehow wants the best for its customers?
Kinetix’s behavior and lack of communication in this matter has been shameful. They were recruiting new members pretty much up until the day they closed for renovations without mentioning the closure to the potential members. The fact that Velazquez doesn’t want to discuss whether Carolina Fitness members’ contracts were still valid because it’s too complicated to put in the newspaper? Sounds more like they want the freedom to bend their own rules as they please.
I’ve signed a one-year contract that’s now only going to get me 9 months of gym membership, I will certainly not be resigning and everyone should be wary of this place.
I signed up with Carrboro Fitness for 3 months starting in June and was not told they would be closing (or that there was even a possibility they would be closing) for 2 of those 3 months. The first time I spoke to Alex he sounded like he would be willing to extend my contract for the period of time that the gym was closed, but the last time I spoke to him he said that he thought the allowing members to go to Kinetix was a reasonable substitute. I also complained to the Better Business Bureau, but they informed me that Kinetix didn’t respond to the complaint. Not sure if my email will appear with this post, but if anyone wants to look into filing a suit in small claims court, I’d be on board. I looked into filing a claim, but it costs $75 bucks, which is basically the equivalent of 2 months, so it’s not really worth doing alone. If, however, there’s a way to split the costs between a few customers, I’d be in.
Iwent by “The New Gym” today and it looks just like the old gym but with fresh paint. there really has been no upgrades as they market and sell their business.
Who cares if they have another gym across town to accomidate all of their customers. I was told today it was a $199 initation fee and $44 a month for nothing more than some new equipment, with a 24 month contract. I was a long term customer when it was carolina fitness and never compalined when equipment broke down day after day, i after all was only paying $29 a month. ALex suggested to me today that if i didnt like his price perhaps i should look into another gym, which i did. O2 fitness offered a $26 iniation fee and $49 a month with 3 locations in the area, all which are valid with everyones 1 year membership. I took my business else where.
Pros- lots of cardio and free weights for carborro/chapel hill residents.
newly remodeled. lots of classes. get to workout with fellow residents of the area who mostly keep tp themselves or are friendly.
Neg-price. 199 enrollment fee (theyll waive 50 if you were a carolina fitness member bringing the price to 149) just to sign up. then about 30/month fee). as a previous ac fitness/carolina fitness member, that brings my payment to at least 460/yr. From 2003 till 2010, i paid 200/yr flat. so, thats twice as much as previously. if 559 a yr is ok in your budget and you live locally, this might be the place for you. The parking lot is not as full as it used to be, my guess because others like me are shopping around and going elsewhere. i suspect this will open up cardio equipment even more! of course, eventually, that could reduce revenue. gyms come and go all the time at this location as they do not own the space. its sort of a bummer, too, that its part of a bigger corporation and not local.
if your budget conscious ZX fitness in Durham is 10/mo at the least.
Planet fitness is also 10/mon off glenwood in raleigh (special jan 2011)
Oxygen fitness is noted above in another post. theres also snap fitness, and millenium. but, alas, these last three are nearly the same as kinetix.
what id really like to do is open a PT clinic in a space and a separate unconnected basic free weight gym hammer strength, cardio next door. no frills, no sauna, steam room, no child care, no corporate fat cats salaries to pay for, no marketing …just a local gym for local folks….etc
well, guys….as zx fitness is officially closed and there is no longer a comparison between zx and kitnetix, could you please remove my earlier post from jan 5, 2011?
thanks,
M
I have never made a habit of saying things like this publicly, but I am so disappointed with the way Kinetix of Carrboro has treated me as a customer. Only after declaring my intentions to close my contract was I informed I would essentially need to show proof of injury or of having moved a certain radius from a Kinetix location to get out, a very important exclusion that cost me a very large amount of money today. It suggests a predatory business policy that, if not illegal, to me at least feels unethical. I hope it was worth it for you, Kinetix.