by David Alexander

WHEN JOY WOLFE ENSOR was a girl, she never fancied herself an active kid. She was always watching her brother play Little League instead of running around like other girls her age. It wasn’t until she turned 50 that she began hitting the gym. What she found there was a community of women whose support and passion would reinvigorate her and provide her with a desire she can’t imagine living without.

Curves, a women-only gym on Maple Road in the Westgate Shopping Center, has a loyal cadre of exercisers just like Ensor. When the more than 300 members learned the gym might be closing last year, they were all crestfallen.

“This particular Curves was extraordinarily supportive and an affirming place to seek wellness and community,” Ensor said.

The gym’s owner at the time, Robin Long, had put Curves up for sale in early 2013, needing a break from the stress of running a small business while she dealt with some personal issues.

In May that year, Jeri Shumate came into the gym looking for part-time work after leaving the University of Michigan to pursue a career in holistic health coaching. Long told her she wasn’t in need of employees, but, fortuitously, not long after, one of the gym’s employees resigned. Long hired Shumate, but told her that because she had been looking to sell the business, Shumate might be working for someone else soon.

Spring waned, and Long still did not have a buyer. On June 23, Long sent out an email blast informing her members that, since she still didn’t have a buyer, she would need to close Curves. The same day, Long’s inbox and telephone were alive with texts, phone calls and emails from members asking what they could do to help prevent her closing the doors.

“If I had the financial resources, I would buy this place in a heartbeat,” Shumate had told Long.

When Long came to work Tuesday, the gym was abuzz with the news. People were offering solutions, determined to save their gym. Some members suggested Shumate buy the business, but Long told them while Shumate had the drive, but she lacked the money.

The next day, Wednesday, roughly 45 members discussed providing Shumate with the money to buy Curves. The next day another 35 met; then, 25 the following day. People began offering to donate money to allow Shumate to buy the business of which they all had grown so fond.

Colleen Retherford, a long-time member, said Curves offers an accepting environment that both encourages and challenges its members. She didn’t want to see that change.

“People are always like ‘just go to Planet Fitness.’ Well, Planet Fitness is not where we want to exercise,” she said.

Although Shumate and her partner Mary Barber had reservations about whether they had the business acumen and wherewithal to make a go of running Curves, they couldn’t stand idly by while an integral part of their lives withered. They knew if they didn’t try, they would always wonder what could have been.

“Women feel safe, safer here. Normal gyms are so impersonal. We know everyone’s name. We know their families,” Shumate said. “We like to compare it to the TV show ‘Cheers.’”

Both Barber and Shumate see Curves as fulfilling a unique niche in Ann Arbor, offering personalized meal plans and coaching in addition to a gym atmosphere. As a hand therapist who works in U-M’s clinic, Barber said a good chunk of the injuries she sees could be alleviated with the sort of healthy habits Curves engenders.

“We are not going to solve this global issue, but we can have an impact on Ann Arbor, on women’s health in Ann Arbor,” she said.

The meetings to provide Shumate with money continued over the next seven weeks. Ensor began helping coordinate the meetings and keeping the fundraising effort on track. The women set up a crowd-funding website, held a raffle, a silent auction and secured personal donations from several members, including one who pledged $10,000. The other businesses in Westgate, including but not limited to Hallmark and Nicola Books, also chipped in, committing a percent of their sales to the cause.

Jody Gray is another long-time member as well as a Curves employee. She attributes her losing, and keeping off, 165 pounds for nearly 10 years, in part, to Curves. She said she was impressed how the effort seemed to snowball on its own accord.

“Never have I seen such a passionate group tackle this,” she said. “Everyone’s hearts and minds were in this.”

In less than two months, Shumate and Barber had raised $42,000 dollars. Long’s original list price was $50,000. Although the sale only covered Long’s debt, she doesn’t look at the sale as a loss of $8,000.

“If I had to close my doors, I would have had all my debt. It couldn’t have gone to anybody else. To give it someone who doesn’t have passion about women—I would have rather have closed my doors,” she said, her voice trembling. “We come from the same cloth. We are similar people. That is what drives us: we are about women’s health—physically, emotionally, spiritually.”

While she is a people person, the business aspect has always proven to be a hurdle, Long said. With Barber and Shumate, that is not an issue. They excel at both, she said. The business changed hands in October, and Barber and Shumate have never looked back. However, Long said the final stretch cemented her decision to sell the business to Shumate.

“I always loved working with women. That’s what my crux was. I believe in empowering women,” she said. “I guess I didn’t realize the importance of that place to others until that last seven weeks.”

Shumate and others said the changes, most of which have been corporate, have been for the better, pushing Curves’ members to new horizons, bringing in younger women while working to ensure its established clientele—mostly women between the ages of 45 and 65—remain comfortable. Membership has also increased, and new equipment is slated to arrive sometime in the next six-to-eight weeks.

Perhsaps one of the biggest misconceptions, Shumate and Barber said, is that people serious about exercise can’t get a good workout at Curves. They said anyone, at any level, could get a good workout at Curves.

“The future looks very, very promising,” Shumate said. “Our business is definitely growing.”