After 15 years of helping the community, Salinas Athletic Club owners announce this morning that it is shutting down operation.
“Unfortunately, the economy the way it is, people can’t afford the additional money to have a health club,” said Steve Hare, who owns the facility at 1502 North Main St. “The fact is so lots of (members) who owe us wealth can’t pay us, we can’t pay our creditors … it’s just a trickle-down effect.”
The result was made today, Hare said, after staff wrestle with the option of closure for the past several months. He said co-owner Donna Hare, who handles the business’ bookkeeping, plans to file for insolvency Wednesday.
Hare said because they realized the opportunity of closing, they stopped sign-ups for regular membership to the health club a couple of months ago and issued magazine ones instead. As the insolvency became inevitable, he said, they switch to weekly memberships and later on to day passes.
Severely cash-strapped, Hare said, they are unable to pay back the advance dues communal by some of their roughly 3,000 members.
“We can’t make any refund (to paid memberships),” he said. “I’m really sorry and I wish we could stay in trade; it is my livelihood. It’s a sad day for us.”
Source :http://thecalifornian.com/article/20081111/NEWS01/81111024/1002