DeWITT — The area locations of the Gold’s Gym Syracuse franchise are now operating as an independent brand called Elevate Fitness. The change took effect Sept. 1, says Tom Muller, co-owner of the Elevate Fitness sites in DeWitt and in Clay. “I’m super excited about it,” says Muller, who spoke with CNYBJ at the company’s […]
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DeWITT — The area locations of the Gold’s Gym Syracuse franchise are now operating as an independent brand called Elevate Fitness.
The change took effect Sept. 1, says Tom Muller, co-owner of the Elevate Fitness sites in DeWitt and in Clay.
“I’m super excited about it,” says Muller, who spoke with CNYBJ at the company’s DeWitt location on Sept. 15.
Muller co-owns the gyms with his wife, Tamara. Tom Muller says he is the majority owner.
The company said in a news release that it became an independent brand so the owners could “better align its amenities with the needs and wants of the Syracuse community.”
Elevate Fitness operates in a 73,000-square-foot facility at 5791 Widewaters Parkway in DeWitt and in a 70,000-square-foot facility at 7455 Morgan Road in Clay.
The business employs about 120 people between the two fitness centers, the majority of which are part-time employees. Each site has 15 full-time employees and the rest are part-time workers.
The clubs are officially known as DeWitt Club, LLC, which does business as Elevate Fitness in DeWitt, and Liverpool Fitness Club, LLC, which does business as Elevate Fitness at the Clay location, according to Tom Muller.
Rationale for change
Muller started thinking about making the change about five years after the business last renewed the franchise agreement with Gold’s Gym.
“The value that they were providing for the fees that they were charging didn’t match up,” Muller contends.
For example, he didn’t like the company’s website, so he created a local website that fed into the national site. Gold’s Gym eventually made the local franchise take the local website down, according to Muller.
CNYBJ sought comment from Gold’s Gym on the matter, but the company didn’t respond before press time.
Despite his concern about the value for the price, Tom Muller has been “very involved” with Gold’s Gym at the corporate level, having served on its marketing committee and its advisory board, he says.
With his return to an independent brand, Muller decided to invest in a “better experience for the members.”
“We’re currently repainting both clubs … We are remodeling the pool here … and we’re bringing in new flooring and new equipment in [Clay]. Earlier in the year, we brought in a bunch of equipment here in DeWitt,” he says.
Elevate Fitness spent more than $120,000 on equipment at the DeWitt location, according to a blog on the company’s website.
The organization purchased the new equipment through Rosemont, Illinois–based Life Fitness and new treadmills from Woodinville, Washington–based Precor, according to Muller.
Elevate Fitness is paying for the improvements with company cash and with equipment financing, he added.
Elevate Fitness has a new website and will soon have a smartphone app as well, says Muller.
As for the new name, Tommy Lincoln, a designer, illustrator, and artist based in Syracuse, included the name Elevate Fitness among a group of possibilities to rename the fitness club, says Muller.
Muller says he is projecting 3 percent revenue growth for Elevate Fitness in 2017. He declined to disclose revenue totals.
The business originally opened as Sundown Health and Racquet Club in the 1980s and then became a Gold’s Gym franchise in 1996, according to Muller. He began working at the club in 1988 and bought the business in 2005.
Founded in 1965, Dallas, Texas–based Gold’s Gym has been franchising since 1980, according to entrepreneur.com, the website of Entrepreneur magazine.
