SINGAPORE – When True Fitness member Yang arrived for her yoga class at its Great World outlet on the afternoon of Sept 11, she was surprised to find the entrance shuttered and a crowd of bewildered members – just a day after her last visit.

“My things are still in the locker,” she said.

The 58-year-old homemaker is among many who were blindsided by the abrupt closure of True Fitness and True Yoga, which parent company Kontafarma China Holdings attributed to market competition and cost pressures on Sept 10.

Yang said members were notified via e-mail about a month ago that the Great World outlet would close on Sept 13, but that remaining packages could be used at other branches.

Yang, who declined to share her first name, has been a member at the outlet since 2014.

She signed up for a True Fitness lifetime membership package 10 years ago, which cost her between $8,000 and $9,000. She now pays an annual fee of about $100 to maintain the membership.

For now, she is unsure if she will be refunded for the unused portion of her membership package following the announcement of the fitness chain’s closure.

Another regular at the Great World outlet, 83-year-old retiree Yin, said she noticed that the branch’s equipment appeared old and unmaintained, and there were leaks in the bathroom facilities.

She was told sometime around June by the outlet’s staff that there were plans to renovate the outlet.

Yin, who first became a True Fitness member 20 years ago, also paid between $8,000 and $9,000 for a lifetime membership package a decade back, alongside an annual fee of about $100.

Like Yang, she is unsure if she will be refunded fo...