Schaumburg Bally Total Fitness to close

A Bally Total Fitness in Schaumburg will be among 31 other Bally locations nationwide to close before the end of the year following acquisition by LA Fitness this week.

On Wednesday, Fitness International, an affiliate of LA Fitness, acquired 171 former Bally Total Fitness locations, including all 27 locations in Illinois.

Of the 31 locations set to close by the end of the year, four clubs are in Illinois, including the Schaumburg West location at 2411 Schaumburg Road. Other Illinois clubs set to close are in Calumet City, Matteson and one location in Chicago.

The Schaumburg location at 1020 Meacham Road will stay open and become an LA Fitness location.

A statement on the LA Fitness website says, “The majority of the acquired clubs will remain open, but some will be closing before the end of the year. If we close a facility, we will transfer those members' agreements to a nearby facility, either an acquired Bally or an LA Fitness.”

There is no date listed for when each club will close.

Representatives from LA Fitness were not available for comment on Thursday as all corporate lines were busy or disconnected, apparently due to the high volume of calls.

The statement also says LA Fitness will honor all membership agreements that were acquired from Bally.

But the sale will also mean changes for Bally employees, who will have to reapply for their jobs with LA Fitness. This is contrary to what a Bally spokesman said earlier this week, that he expected all employees to be retained.

“The employees at the clubs we acquired will no longer be employed by Bally, but we hope that they will apply for positions with us,” said the statement on the LA Fitness website. “We will do our best to find a spot for every qualified Bally employee who wants to be part of our team.“