Xperience Fitness is closing all Wisconsin clubs

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Gym members were taken by surprise Thursday by the sudden closure of Xperience Fitness. And quite a few have unanswered questions.

In a statement released on Thursday evening, June 29, 2023, Xperience Fitness announced the permanent closing of all its Wisconsin clubs. Staff and those with memberships said they received little to no warning from the company.

“Pretty crazy I guess. You wish they’d have sent out an email a week or two ago at least,” said Joe Cust, a former Xperience member.

The statement reads: “This was an incredibly difficult decision and we apologize about this unfortunate news. Thank you to all our staff members, trainers, and most importantly our amazing members for 11 years of fitness.” Followed by a yellow heart emoji.

Furthermore, Xperience wrote, “Thank You For The Memories”. They also stated: “Our focus is and always will be on our members and we look forward to continuing to serve our Minnesota members.”

Xperience Fitness had seven gyms in Wisconsin, including one in Appleton and one in Green Bay.

Zach Soletski, a member of the Green Bay gym, said he was “heartbroken. Heartbroken all out, because they didn’t tell us last night when we were here hanging out. We thought we were going to be here all year, couldn’t wait for winter, get bulked...but now it’s over.”

“It was my part-time job for 6 years. I liked working here. I’ve been coming here for... 10 years, actually, and working here since 2017,” Rahul Banger told us.

Former member John Choudoir used to frequent the Appleton location - despite what he described as ongoing equipment issues: “There’s a couple machines that have been down for three months now and I asked about it once and they said something about the equipment is older so it takes a while to get the parts.”

A supervisor sent workers at Xperience Fitness in Ashwaubenon a notice more than 20 minutes after the closure. The message calls the news “sudden” and says the company “had a bumpy road with budget cuts and many other hurdles.”

According to the memo, the supervisor is working one more week to make sure workers know the gym has shut its doors and they get paid for their time.

Signs on the doors say all memberships were transferred to Planet Fitness.

According to Xperience’s website, its baseline membership costs $40 a month. At Planet Fitness, the classic membership is $10 a month but doesn’t offer the same experience as a pool or a sauna.

Former member Joe Cust is now searching for a new spot to continue his half-ironman training.

“Planet Fitness doesn’t have a pool, so now I have to try to find the Y or some other gym with a pool nearby so it’s going to impact my training a little bit,” Cust said.

Mike Welsing is taking his gym bag to Planet Fitness, but says he’ll miss his Xperience Fitness family: “You know, you see the same people if you come at the same time. You see the same people almost all the time. A lot of good conversations in the sauna!”

Xperience Fitness has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Neither has the owner of Xperience Fitness in Ashwaubenon.