| CBI Interview |


CompuTrainer system offers cycling excitement in Boulder


EW: A management buyout is always challenging. Anytime you get involved in one, you have the ownership group, which has a certain perception of a property’s value, a value that’s been conferred by management; and management’s perception, which is generally a lot less than ownership’s, because management knows it’s going to create the value. But, eventually, things get worked out.


of World Health Club, a 12-facility chain in Alberta, Canada. Jay’s served as the chairman of the American Council on Exercise (ACE), and as a member of IHRSA’s board of directors, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that he’s been honored as IHRSA’s Person of the Year.


CBI: Now, let’s talk about what’s happening today. Wellbridge owns


“We saw trends that we didn’t like… So we decided we needed to make some changes in the organization of the company to address the challenges we saw coming.”


CBI: You mentioned your partner, Jay Kell—he’s another well- traveled and highly accomplished industry veteran.


EW: Absolutely. Before he joined me— that was in 2003—he’d served as the executive vice president, COO, and a partner with Sports Clubs of Canada (SCC), overseeing 21 clubs in the Toronto area. When Bally Total Fitness acquired SCC in 1999, he became their Toronto-area director and, later, the area director for Toronto and New York. After that, he held the post of president


32 Club Business Internat ional | OCTOBER 2010 |


17 upscale properties in 10 states, manages two others, has some 3,000 employees, and generates revenues on the order of $75 million a year; and, last year, it opened two brand-new premier clubs along the Colorado Front Range, Wellbridge’s home base.


EW: Yes, we’re particularly proud of them. We opened the Boulder and Tabor Center locations, and they’ve turned out to be two of our flagship clubs. What’s especially exciting about them is that each of them has been


www. ihrsa.org


designed to be an integral part of the neighborhood in which they reside and to cater, specifically, to local residents. As a result, the two facilities look completely different; you wouldn’t think the same company had devel- oped them. In Boulder, you have a population that likes to be active outdoors, and, to do so, needs to be fit, and that’s where we come in. They come to us to get into shape and, then, go outside and do their biking, hiking, and mountain climbing. We’ve responded to that demographic in every way—in terms of marketing, design, programming, etc.


CBI: Can you offer an example?


EW: Well, in terms of marketing, we went out and found photos of local people who were involved in active events and put them in our ads. And, so, when we were doing a presale, people would walk in and say, “That guy lives next door to me.” Boulder is a very small community, and every- body knows everybody else. At other clubs, people introduce themselves to each other, but, here, they already know one another.


CBI: What’s the Tabor Center location like?


EW: This was a case of a unique opportunity materializing in a very


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