GreatLIFE is growing and people are taking notice. If you didn’t see GreatLIFE featured on Your Money Matters with Angela Kennecke over the weekend, head to KELOLAND.com to see the full video or check out the article below.

Published by Keloland.com

March 6, 2015, 10:10 PM

by Angela Kennecke

SIOUX FALLS, SD – If you drive around Sioux Falls, you can’t help but notice the expansion of GreatLIFE. The fitness centers seem to be popping up everywhere and the number of area golf courses affiliated with the company is also rising.

77-year-old Chuck Davis has been working out at Woodlake Athletic Club since 1983. He can’t believe how much GreatLIFE has transformed the place in just a year’s time.

“To take a look out here and see who is out here, it’s something I didn’t see for 25 or 30 years; it’s just amazing,” Davis said.

It’s about to get even bigger. Area Burger King franchise owner, Tom Walsh Senior, who brought GreatLIFE to Sioux Falls, is putting $7 million into Woodlake.

Great progress has also been made in the 50,000 square foot addition to Woodlake. It’s expected to open May first.

While one big addition may seem more than enough, it’s not for Walsh, who’s moving at a record pace to expand GreatLIFE’s footprint.

This new fitness club just opened on West 26th Street in Marion Road. Two more will open within a month on East 26th Street and East 10th Street. And that’s not all.

“We’ve got a 16,000 square foot brand new Willow Run club house with 6,000 square feet of fitness plus a pool and Jacuzzi out there,” Walsh said.

GreatLIFE will have 14 fitness centers and 20 affiliated golf courses by the end of the year. It now has 11,000 members, but Walsh hopes to double that by the end of the year. “It’s impacting the lives of these kids and families and couples way beyond anything we ever dreamed of. And for a lot of us, it’s become a mission,” Walsh said.

That mission, ironically enough, for the man who made his fortune in fast food, is to help people live a healthy lifestyle.

“Okay don’t have French fries. Hold the mayonnaise. Have a salad with the chicken,” Walsh said.
“You still want people to eat at Burger King, don’t you?” Angela Kennecke asked.
“Oh absolutely,” Walsh said.
“Ok, just checking,” Angela Kennecke said.
“Yes, flame broiled–have it your way,” Walsh said.

Walsh plans not only to continue expansion in the Sioux Falls area, but also take GreatLIFE nationwide.

“I’m a little driven when I see things that can make a difference in people’s lives,” Walsh said.

Walsh also plans to add two more fitness clubs on the northwest part of the city.

One would be located in a new strip mall near PREMIER Bankcard on North Louise Avenue. The strip mall would include a GreatLIFE fitness club, a Year Round Brown tanning salon, and a coffee shop and juice bar.

The other fitness center would be located in a building by Citibank on East 60th Street North.