By Joe Hyde
Publisher
March 27, 2008

Adam Hryb, general manager of Gold’s Gym (4110 Sunset Dr, San Angelo) enthusiastically advocates maintaining a healthy lifestyle, helped by memberships to his 42,000 square foot, brand new facility. From his vantage point, standing in the middle of hundreds of aerobic training machines, nautilus equipment, free weights, and group exercise rooms, there is no better value in San Angelo than his gym. Getting to this point, and maintaining confidence through Gold’s Gym’s introduction to San Angelo wasn’t easy, however.

San Angelo is snake-bitten in the large franchised gym operations. Ten years ago, another franchise called “World’s Gym” tried to establish itself into the market. The undercapitalized franchisee pre-sold memberships from a temporary facility, and then took the money and ran out of town, without bothering to build the gym. “There was a bad taste in the community from that. There were a lot of objections to us doing pre-sales. Everybody wanted to see the actual building being opened,” Hryb says.

Franchise owner Stephen Langdon purchased the entire shopping center where Gold’s is located today, but before he could open the gym, the location required major renovation and updating. So, Langdon opened a smaller, temporary gym inside the Sunset Mall.

Hryb hired a staff, and pushed pre-sell memberships for the club. “We had every intention of opening the new facility in April 2006, and that’s what we told the new members,” Hryb says. “Sales were slow that January, but as February [2006] rolled around, sales started gaining steam.

“Our initial projected opening date was April [2006]. We kinda did a soft announcement that that was when were projected to open. But because of a lot of construction and permit delays, there was no way we were going to have the facility open by then,” Hryb says.

“We were finding some things in this building that were completely unexpected, such as [bad] plumbing and what not,” regional manager Liz Binder adds.

“The [customer] attitudes started changing when we didn’t make the [grand opening] date,” Hryb says. The franchise added services, such as free childcare, to the temporary gym to help allay customer concerns. “We brought in some extra equipment. That’s when we brought in our free motion line,” Hryb says.

“We probably had 600-700 members by this time,” Binder adds. Maintaining happy customers was manageable, but staffers were not prepared for the local media’s onslaught when the franchise failed to open by June 2006.

“It was KSAN [television station] that ran a story with the local Better Business Bureau going on the record with member complaints that really started the snowball rolling,” Binder says. Pretty soon, employees had to contend with camera crews and news reporters hanging around the Sunset Mall facility. “Everybody wanted to jump on the bandwagon then, trying to negate anything positive we were doing to compensate for the delays,” Binder says.

“The entire community atmosphere changed from the great response we had in January and February [2006]. Back then it was ‘Wow! A new gym is coming!’ Everyone knows the great reputation behind Gold’s, so everybody was really excited about it. Everyone wanted to wear a Gold’s Gym T-shirt. About June, July, and August, no one was wearing a Gold’s Gym T-shirt anymore,” Hryb says.

Then in August, Justin Pennington, one of the fitness consultants, was assaulted in a parking lot for wearing a Gold’s Gym shirt. “It was so heated that we were concerned that the mall was going to kick us out,” Binder says. “But they [the mall office] were very protective. They tried to keep the television cameras out,” Binder says. But wearing a Gold’s Gym staff shirt around town became akin to having a target on your back, Hryb explains.

In August, Langdon went to television promising to have the new facility opened by the end of September. The grand opening required several sleepless nights by staff, assembling equipment. “And we made it,” Binder says.

Hryb says he endured the experience because he saw firsthand the vision of the gym. “The staff, we were immersed in the construction of it, we saw what was going on behind the scenes,” he says. “The staff knew we were going to get the club opened. Everyone was on board with it, that this was going to be the best gym in town. In July and August, we did a lot of walking across the street to show members and prospects the construction progress.”

Hryb has been with the San Angelo location since it opened. “You know, we had, even in our temporary location, a great facility. And we tried to help every person that came in. We tried to get one-on-one with everyone. I think we were able to retain so many of the original members because we were so successful in generating that personal relationship with every one of our clients,” Hryb says. But Binder knew her San Angelo manager was feeling the heat. “I would come down to San Angelo and see Hryb. I would ask him, ‘Are you okay?’” Binder says.

Once the new facility opened, the turn-around was rapid. “The word got out that we were open, but there were still a few people who were negative. We tried to accommodate them in any way we could with great customer service,” Hryb says. “I believe this is the best gym in town, and we really believe in it. I think that shines through with the staff. And that really changed a lot of peoples’ attitudes.”

The first Gold's Gym opened in fall of 1965 in Venice Beach, California. Dubbed "the Mecca of bodybuilding," it was frequented by Arnold Schwarzenegger and featured in the 1977 movie Pumping Iron. Joe Gold, the original owner of the gym, sold it in 1970. At that time, it was considered a landmark in the bodybuilding subculture and even achieved cult status.

But the Gold’s Gym of today is vastly different than it was in the beginning. Gold’s is now a co-ed gym that focuses on general fitness in the communities it serves. The gym is not actively promoting the “body-building” image anymore. Rather, aerobics, pilates, muscle toning, and free day care are the draws. And many of the members are women.

With 620 gyms and 3 million members in 25 countries and 43 states, most facilities are owned by franchisees. Langdon operates two Gold’s locations in Midland and the San Angelo location. He is working toward opening a fourth Midland facility. Langdon has operated the franchise since 2000. His primary motivation is his dedication to personal fitness himself.

“We have the best paid, most proficient personal trainers anywhere,” Hryb says. That’s important for keeping customers motivated to follow through with their fitness goals.

Rico Vargas has been a member of Gold’s since the days the facility was in the Mall. “I was burned out with my old place I [had been] working out at,” he says. Joining the Gold’s, even at their temporary facility, gave him motivation to keep up his fitness routine. “It was just what I needed,” he says.

According to Vargas, he stays at the gym today because Gold’s new location is four times bigger than other options, it’s at a great location, and it’s open 24 hours.

Fitness consultant Justin Pennington adds that because of the size and number of workout stations, there is always availability on whatever type of equipment you are using to train. “And there are no time restrictions, either,” he says. Hryb says that the open environment and large membership mean there are a lot of familiar faces to greet you “at the best club in town.”

Binder is pleased with the growth the San Angelo location has experienced, especially since January 2007. Once what she says was the “bad karma” was replaced with the excitement of the new facility, membership started growing rapidly. January 2008 was the best month to date. But Hryb and his staff still remember the dark days of the fall of 2006 when it felt like the entire city of San Angelo was expecting Gold’s to fail and calling its staff crooks. Many times, it is the bad times you remember that make the good times feel even better.