Lifetime Fitness 2009 Annual Report Download - page 8

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PART I
Item 1. Business.
Company Overview
As a Healthy Way of Life company, Life Time Fitness is committed to helping its members achieve healthier, more
active lives. To accomplish this, we generally operate distinctive and large, multi-use sports and athletic,
professional fitness, family recreation and spa centers in a resort-like environment under the LIFE TIME
FITNESS® and LIFE TIME ATHLETICSM brands. We design, build and operate our centers and we focus on
providing our members and customers with products and services at a high quality and compelling value in the areas
of education, exercise and nutrition. As of February 26, 2010, we operated 86 centers primarily in suburban
locations in 19 states and 24 major markets.
We believe our centers provide a desirable and unique experience for our members, resulting in a high number of
memberships per center, which we manage to optimize the member experience. We have refined our center size and
design with the opening of each new center. Of our 86 centers, we consider 76 to be of our large format design.
Among these 76 centers, we consider 52 to be of our current model design. Although the size and design of our
centers may vary, our business strategy and operating processes remain consistent across all of our centers. Our
current model centers generally target 8,500 to 11,500 memberships by offering, on average, 113,000 square feet of
multi-use sports and athletic, professional fitness, family recreation, spa amenities and programs and services in a
resort-like environment.
Our principal executive offices are located at 2902 Corporate Place, Chanhassen, Minnesota 55317, and our
telephone number is [phone]. Our Web site is located at lifetimefitness.com. The information contained on
our Web site is not a part of this annual report.
Our History
Our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bahram Akradi, founded Life Time Fitness with the vision to
create a Healthy Way of Life company that would provide an educational and entertaining experience of
uncompromising quality, while meeting the health and fitness needs of our members by always putting the customer
first. For example, our company has never required long-term member contracts, instead preferring to offer month-
to-month agreements that provide members flexibility, while focusing the efforts of our employees on the goal of
earning our members’ business each and every day, upon each and every visit.
We were incorporated in 1990 as a Minnesota corporation under the name FCA, Ltd. We changed our name to Life
Time Fitness, Inc. in 1998. In 1992, we opened our first center in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. This 27,000 square-
foot facility served as the first validation of a new, highly differentiated product and service that uniquely catered to
individuals and families.
Since then, we have been credited with transforming the health and fitness industry with category-redefining centers
that feature sports and athletics, family recreation and entertainment, professional fitness, spa services, and
amenities and programming in a resort-like environment.
In 2000, we expanded our offerings beyond operating our centers with the introduction of our proprietary line of
nutritional products and supplements, and our award-winning magazine, Experience Life. In 2001, we formalized
our Athletic Events division, which now offers nearly 100 events each year, including triathlons (indoor and
outdoor) and running events. Beginning in 2003, we launched a portfolio of health seminars, assessments and
innovative partnerships with health insurance companies with the goal of further extending our Healthy Way of Life
mission to corporate America.
In 2004, we completed our initial public offering and our stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (Ticker:
LTM).
We have only closed one facility in our history – the previously mentioned Brooklyn Park, Minnesota center. We
decided not to renew our lease at that location in December 2006 because we had since opened five other locations
in the vicinity that continue to serve the membership from this former location.