A Hong Kong beauty group, PerFace, has announced its plans to take over parts of the shuttered gym chain, Physical Fitness. The gym chain abruptly closed 23 fitness and health centers in early September, leading to thousands of consumer complaints. PerFace stated that they would take over certain fitness and beauty slimming businesses from Physical Fitness and provide services to consumers who had purchased gym memberships, personal training sessions, and beauty treatments from the closed chain.
PerFace has established a new company called Per Fit Limited to take over the Physical Fitness gyms. They are currently interviewing 700 staff from Physical Fitness and have already employed 200 of them. The Physical Fitness gym centers in Wan Chai and Mong Kok have reopened under the new brand Per Fit, and PerFace is in communication with landlords of other centers to try and stay in their original locations.
The mother company of PerFace is Fameglow Holding Limited, founded in 2008 by Danny Yip and Fu Chi Ching. The couple also founded Per Fit Limited. PerFace has signed a memorandum of understanding with Luk Ngai-keung, the founder and director of Physical Fitness. Luk and another director of Physical Fitness, Ho Yuk-wah, were arrested in mid-September by Hong Kong customs officers as part of an investigation team looking into the closure of Physical Fitness.
The Consumer Council has received over 5,000 complaints against Physical Fitness, totaling over HK$189 million. The highest transaction amount involved is around HK$2 million, with the lowest at HK$99. Gilly Wong, chief executive of the Consumer Council, mentioned in a press conference that it is still unclear whether Physical Fitness consumers will be eligible for refunds at PerFace or Per Fit centers if they choose not to accept services.
According to the Transfer of Businesses (Protection of Creditors) Ordinance, consumers can be refunded by the old or new business operator. Wong suggested that consumers review their contracts or purchase receipts and check out the services at PerFace or Per Fit before making any decisions.
In September, a banner for the wellness brand Healthy was seen outside what used to be a Physical Fitness branch in Wan Chai. It was reported that the branch had been rebranded as Per Fit. Wong noted that the Consumer Council had not been in touch with Healthy and was not informed about the rebranding.
Irene Chan, a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press, has an interest in covering political and social change. She has received awards for her investigative, feature, and video reporting, as well as a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting. Irene’s insights provide valuable information about the situation and the implications for consumers and the industry as a whole.
