Prairie Eden, MN-based Lifetime is adding six more units thisyear to the 62 it currently has in operation, and management has 10more in the works for 2008. So far this year the company has openedlocations in Lakeville, MN and Omaha. Lifetime has units in 14states, most of them in the Midwest.

Other than entering additional markets, executives are bettingon internal growth. Of the 62 locations the company has open, only32 of them have reached maturity, where they are operating at 90%membership capacity, which management expects to achieve when aclub is open for three years. The other 30 are still within theirfirst 36 months of operation.

During the company's most recently-reported quarter, membershipincreased 23.7%, to about 475,000 people. "We have not seen theconsumer negatively effecting our business at all," said Robinson,responding to an audience-member question about a possible consumerslowdown.