1992: Houston native Gary Heavin, who went
bankrupt after his first fitness club endeavor, and
his second wife, Diane, a marketing expert, open
Curves for Women center in Harlingen, Texas.
1995: First Curves franchise opens in
Paris, Texas.
1996: Curves grows to 44 locations.
1997: 247 Curves are open.
1998: Curves more than doubles its size to
537 locations.
1999: Curves opens in Canada. Curves has
860 gyms.
2000: Curves opens in Spain. New total:
1,258 locations.
2001: Curves opens in Mexico. The chain
again almost doubles its size, this time to 2,221
franchises, and is named the world's largest fitness
center franchise by Guinness World Records.
2002: Curves opens in the United Kingdom
and Portugal. Worldwide tally: 5,000.
2003: Curves opens in Brazil, Chile,
Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, New
Zealand, Peru, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Guinness World Records names Curves the
fastest-growing franchise in history. There are now
6,733 centers.
2004: Curves opens in Argentina,
Australia, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, El Salvador,
France, Guam, Honduras, the Netherlands and Panama.
Global total: 8,500.
2005: Curves opens in Barbados, Bolivia,
Germany, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Nicaragua, South
Africa and Venezuela. There are 9,500 Curves
worldwide, and one out of every four U.S. gyms is a
Curves.
2006: Curves opens in Denmark, Hong Kong,
Sweden, Norway, Jamaica and Israel. In September,
Fortune ranks Curves at the No. 1 Up-and-Coming
Brand. On Oct. 10, the 10,000th Curves opens in
Paris, France. (Coincidence: The first Curves
franchise opened in Paris, Texas.)
