Grab your kopi-O kosong, pull up a plastic stool, and let’s talk about the absolute circus that is the Singapore fitness industry.

If you thought last week’s shocking collapse of True Fitness and True Yoga was the ultimate plot twist of the year, hold your yoga mats.

Hot on its heels, boutique studio Yoga Inc. has decided to play the exact same disappearing act, proving once and for all that in Singapore, your gym membership has a shorter shelf life than a fresh packet of tau Huey.

Part 1: True Fitness and TrueYoga’s Multimillion-Dollar Ghosting

Let’s rewind to the massive tremor that shook the local wellness scene. True Fitness, True Yoga, and their affiliated brands (including TFX and Yoga Edition) literally pulled down their shutters across the island overnight, plunging 10 outlets into total darkness.

Their Hong Kong parent company, Kontafarma, decided they’d had enough and threw their hands up, placing the Singapore entities under provisional liquidation due to staggering debts and a bleeding balance sheet of over HK$429 million in net liabilities.

The Lifetime Membership Trap: Some poor souls found out the hard way that “lifetime” doesn’t mean much when a company goes belly up. Customers came forward sharing how they shelled out upwards of $21,000 for lifetime founder packages for themselves and their family members, only to find the doors locked tight.

The CASE Pile-Up: The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) was immediately flooded with hundreds of complaints, racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in unutilised package losses.

Staff Left Hanging: Over 200 employees and freelance instructors were caught completely unaware, getting hit with the dreaded termination emails while standing outside locked turnstiles.

Part 2: Yoga Inc. Joins the “Now You See Me, Tomorrow I Fly” Club

Just when you thought the dust would settle, Yoga Inc. decided to steal the spotlight with an encore performance.

After quietly shutting down their Tanjong Pagar and Bedok locations earlier in the year, they pulled the plug on their final two bastions at SAFRA Punggol and Our Tampines Hub with zero advance warning.

The script was almost identical, written straight out of the classic Singapore corporate playbook:

1. Aggressive Hard-Selling: They were still actively pushing and selling class packages to unsuspecting members right up until July.

2. The Cowardly Text Message: Instructors who had given a decade of their lives to the studio woke up on a Friday to a text message saying, “I know that this news is difficult to accept… sorry ah,” while their monthly salaries remained completely unpaid.

3. The Blur Sotong Members: Customers like one poor member named Janice, who had just casually swiped $300 for 10 new classes, walked up to the studio only for the receptionist to casually drop the bombshell that the company had vanished into thin air.

ACRA records quickly confirmed what everyone feared: the company had been struck off the register. Trying to chase down a refund at this point is basically mission impossible.

The Moral of the Story: Trust No Prepaid Package

From the grand collapse of California Fitness years ago down to the recent mass casualties of True Fitness and Yoga Inc., the writing is glowing bright on the wall.

Fitness chains love dangling massive discounts for multi-year memberships and upfront package bundles, but the moment cash flow gets tight, they vanish faster than your resolve to hit the gym on a Monday morning.

So, the next time a smiling sales rep tries to lock you into a “Super VIP Lifetime Unlimited Unlimited Absolute Core Strength” package with a massive upfront discount, remember this: the only thing getting a rigorous workout isn’t your core—it’s your blood pressure when they suddenly run road.

Stay safe out there, drink your kopi, and maybe stick to jogging around the neighborhood park for free!