Intown Stars gymnastics abruptly closed in Decatur on Thursday evening, leaving parents scrambling to find alternative classes for their children and wondering if they’ll get their money back.
The closure follows a drama-filled few months for the company, which, until January 2024, was a gem of a local business. In 2020, Inc. Magazine named Intown Stars one of the Fastest Growing Companies in America, and it won an Atlanta Magazine “Best Of” award in 2023. The business also recently completed a massive expansion.
But things began to unravel in January when founder and owner Anna Santiago ripped her customers in a Facebook post. She was responding to customers who were upset about her decision to fire a popular employee. She made her comments using the company’s official Facebook page.
“You f*&!ing entitled, hostile assholes should learn some manners and some math,” she wrote, adding, “I’m so glad you’re gone…”
The company soon announced that Santiago was, in fact, gone and said she would be relieved of her duties. However, it appears Santiago sent the message about the gym’s closure to families on Thursday evening. It was signed, “Anna.”
“The greater Atlanta community has enjoyed many years of Intown Star’s continuous success in delivering gymnastics, parkour, and other services to its customers,” she wrote. “After much deliberation and considerable analysis, sadly it has become necessary to immediately close the business and cease operations. Continuing to operate Intown Stars is no longer financially viable.”
Santiago did not answer her phone when Decaturish called, and all emails sent to official company accounts were returned as undeliverable. Families who contacted info@intownstarsatl.com with questions were given the same response.
There was no indication on the company’s website or social media pages that the business had closed, and just yesterday, the company was promoting classes at Intown Stars’ NinjaZone fusion obstacle course.
Santiago didn’t give specific reasons for the closure in her email, which several parents forwarded to Decaturish.
“Since its inception in 2013, Intown has successfully scaled to meet the demands of a fast-growing community of customers,” she wrote. “This success was only possible through the collective efforts of the employees, students, and families that came through our doors year after year. Together, I believe we created something truly special and beautiful, and I am proud of our collective accomplishment. But a company can only thrive when its services can meet the unique needs of the community. At this time Intown can no longer meet those needs, and it has become time for us to close this chapter. I end this journey, grateful for the time we’ve shared.”
Another parent sent a message that was forwarded to her by an Intown Stars employee. In that message, Santiago said the employees were terminated effective Aug. 15 and that health benefits would continue through the end of the month. She also directed employees to contact info@intownstarsatl.com with any questions.
Not long after Santiago’s controversial Facebook post in January, Decaturish reported Santiago and her leadership team at Intown Stars were also facing allegations of racial discrimination in a federal lawsuit filed by two former employees. Intown Stars denied the allegations in its response. Federal records show the case was settled with undisclosed terms in May, and the case was formally terminated last Friday, Aug. 9.
It’s unclear whether the lawsuit settlement had anything to do with Intown Star’s closure. Intown Stars families are not happy.
Britt Cotter said her 8-year-old daughter has been at Intown Stars since she was two years old and was asked to join a team this past summer.
“We were floored when the email came through from Intown Stars less than two hours after we left the gym for her Thursday class,” Cotter said. “The staff gave no indication that anything was amiss. In fact, they reminded us that our ‘team fees’ of $250 were due to come out today. Fortunately, our fee had not yet come out of our account when the news broke.”
Cotter says breaking the news to her daughter will be hard, but she feels worse for the employees.
“While I am not looking forward to having to explain to my daughter that her gym has been shut down immediately for reasons we don’t quite understand, my heart goes out to the staff and coaches,” she said. “In a group chat with one of our coaches, we were informed that they only got the news after parents began reaching out to them.”
This story was provided by WABE content partner Decaturish.
