1 Year and Counting

Recently retired Bernalillo Public Schools board member Nancy Walker has celebrated a business milestone.

It was one year ago on March 1 that Walker became the owner of the Bernalillo Curves, a workout center designed for women.

A member since 2005, Walker said she became concerned the business might close when it was put on the market in October 2011.

	Curves of Bernalillo What: a workout center designed for women. Where: 140 E. U.S. 550, Suite C; 771-9339 Hours: Monday-Thursday: 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3-7 p.m.; Friday: 6:30 p.m. and 3-6:30 p.m.; Saturday: 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

Husband, Chuck Walker, encouraged his wife that it was time to become a business owner.

“He said, ‘Nancy you should think about buying it. You’d be perfect,’” Nancy Walker recalled. “He did all the background checks and due diligence and I just kind of stepped in when that was all done.”

She underwent a three-day training session in Riverside, Calif., with corporate personnel, then an extended, video training online.

But since she was already very familiar with the circuit-training regimen, it was a fairly smooth transition, Walker said.

While each individually owned Curves must follow corporate mandates, like the food drive that all Curves in the United States do throughout March, she has managed to instill a sense of community within the workout center with little touches of her own.

For instance, on Valentine’s Day, women were invited to bring their spouses in for a dual workout.

“The wives acted as the coaches for their husbands,” Walker said. “It went really well. The men thanked me because they wanted to know how we did things in here.”

She has encouraged members to bring in items for a yard sale, with the proceeds going to benefit breast cancer research. Whatever did not get sold was donated to Watermelon Mountain Ranch so the animal shelter in Rio Rancho could sell the donated items.

Walker had been a certified pharmacy technician at a drug store in Albuquerque, so not only is she working closer to her Algodones home now, but she still is helping people with their health.

“It’s a change, but I’ve stepped out from behind the counter and I’m still advocating for people’s health,” she said.

Although Walker never ran a business before, she said she quickly realized that a key to her success was retaining her core members first and foremost then reaching out to try and grow through new memberships.

“Many women are definitely taking steps to improve their health,” Walker said. “And that step is a positive thing about their health. So that’s encouraging.”
— This article appeared on page 07 of the Albuquerque Journal