About Us

Purpose Statement: Improving Lives Through Health and Fitness

This statement is both simple and direct. We want our members' lives to be better as a consequence of utilizing the services and facilities of the North Little Rock Athletic Club. The club's goal is to create a positive, nurturing environment stressing the mental, physical, and emotional benefits of leading an active, participatory, and health conscious lifestyle.

Guiding Values

We are keenly aware of and responsive to our members' needs/complaints.
This value reminds us always to stay open-minded and listen carefully to our members. While it can be difficult to receive criticism, nothing is more crucial to correcting deficiencies within our operation than a member notifying us that something is wrong. It is then incumbent upon us to correct the shortcoming in a timely manner.
We hire service-oriented staff and train them to provide unsurpassed service to the membership.
Good service is first and foremost a willingness to take care of others. Some people simply seemed wired to be good service providers. Those are the individuals we want to hire. When we hire employees who have a "service attitude" we must then train them how to utilize their positive mind-set within our system.
Cleanliness and maintenance is critical to our success and everyone's job.
Keeping the Club clean and all the equipment functioning is an ongoing challenge. After all, over 300 people visit the NLRAC on a typical day - to sweat and utilize the equipment. This value recognizes that members deserve to work out in a clean environment and have equipment that operates properly. It further acknowledges that keeping the facility in order is every employee's responsibility.
It is essential that we operate with integrity at all times.
This guideline reflects the role that ethics plays within our business. Whether it involves members, vendors or employees, it is critical that our conduct be honest and fair-minded. This "golden rule" of behavior is just good business and always pays off in the long run.
Teamwork is paramount to our success.
Our organization is made up of twelve separate divisions and nearly 200 full and part-time employees. Each division has its own budget, manager and priorities. This guideline means that in order for our Club to flourish, each division and all employees must operate interdependently. Functioning as a team requires good communication and an ability to maintain focus on the goals of the overall organization.
The work we do makes a positive difference in our members' lives.
This final Guiding Value relates to our Purpose Statement and reminds us of the life affirming nature of our business. It is the "icing on the cake". We are fortunate to provide a service that is both beneficial to our members and a pleasure to deliver.

While it would be an overstatement to suggest that we unfailingly live up to all these standards, their existence helps us correct course when we lose our way. Furthermore, by sharing these ideals here, we become more accountable to you and thereby move closer to achieving our mutual goals.

History

Located next to McCain Mall in North Little Rock, the NLRAC building was originally built in the 1970's as a skating rink. In the mid 1990's the building was renovated to become a health club known as the Arkansas Athletic Club (AAC). The AAC fell on hard times after only two years and was forced to close its doors in 1997.

At this time Riley's Health and Fitness Centers Inc. was approached by the bank holding the mortgage on the property. After a lengthy negotiation we purchased the building in 1998 and initiated a $1.5 million renovation project. In April of 1999, the Club re-opened as the North Little Rock Athletic Club with about 600 members. Currently the Club has about 1,300 memberships and is a thriving part of the NLR community.