{"id":79192,"date":"2026-01-06T11:45:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/79192\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T11:45:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:45:23","slug":"gyms-focused-on-attracting-new-members-retaining-current-ones-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/79192\/","title":{"rendered":"Gyms focused on attracting new members, retaining current ones"},"content":{"rendered":"

While new memberships typically spike at the beginning of each year, officials from two local gyms noted keeping current clients also remains a high priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as I would want to gain more, the most important thing to me is making people stay consistent,\u201d said Brad Reiss, general manager of Crunch Fitness inside the Marketplace at Steamtown in Scranton. \u201cEvery year we\u2019re doing some type of project to keep it fresh and innovative and to keep the members happy. We\u2019re always improving and that keeps people coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CommunityCommunity members work out at the Crunch Fitness in the Marketplace at Steamtown on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

Reiss believes the community associated with the gym helped propel growth throughout the past several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the reason we\u2019ve thrived,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re not just seen as a barcode number. We get to know you. I think out of the 4,000 members, I probably know 3,500 by their first name \u2026 that\u2019s the culture we\u2019ve developed. With the smoothie bar, it\u2019s created the loitering aspect. You can bring your laptop, do some work, and hang out with the staff as you\u2019re having your shake after your workout.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janet Fallon of Taylor echoed Reiss\u2019 sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to tell you, we\u2019re one big family,\u201d Fallon said.<\/p>\n

Ryan Savka, director of sales for Odyssey Fitness on Coal Street in Wilkes-Barre, also stressed that the gym aims to retain current members as much as attracting new ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big focus for us is not only just getting new members, but it\u2019s also the retention, keeping them at Odyssey and keeping them focused on their workouts,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re a family-owned business and a huge, huge community in terms of not just our staff helping people out, but our members also get really involved in helping people out as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Savka added that participating in classes or teaming up with someone else can help keep your fitness journey on track.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking out with a buddy is great,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, with the classes, it keeps the accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reiss advises potential members to check their health insurance plans heading into 2026 to see if they qualify for a discount.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting a lot of people in here at very low-cost options that help the members out and help us out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt keeps people coming consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Crunch continually evolves to meet the needs of its members, officials added $200,000 worth of new equipment in the last two months, Reiss said.<\/p>\n

\"Community<\/p>\n

Community members work out at the Crunch Fitness in the Marketplace at Steamtown on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ramon<\/p>\n

Ramon Hernandez works out at Crunch Fitness in the Marketplace at Steamtown on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. He celebrated his 85th birthday last week. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Crunch Fitness in the Marketplace at Steamtown on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

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Community members work out at the Crunch Fitness in the Marketplace at Steamtown on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was more strength training, but we also swapped out some of the older treadmills for the newest model,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were able to optimize the functionality so it doesn\u2019t feel cluttered. We had a bunch of big units that were underutilized. We decided to remove those and add equipment that people want. We listened to the members and added some new top-of-the-line pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Savka expressed high hopes for Odyssey in the new year as the facility added some new features.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re coming off a great 2025 and we\u2019re really excited for 2026,\u201d he said. \u201cNew Year\u2019s, January, February and March is our favorite time of the year. This is the time when we get a ton of new members and we get a lot of our old members coming back as well. We have a lot of new classes, new programs and new equipment for our boxing and sports performance areas. Our big addition this year was our huge Les Mills virtual classes. We have a big, 12-foot-by-7-foot 4K projector that comes down on our movie screen and plays classes all throughout the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crunch caters to its members in a number of ways, from free parking to a child care service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe eliminate the excuses,\u201d Reiss said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While new memberships typically spike at the beginning of each year, officials from two local gyms noted keeping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[60,201,182,803,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-79192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-luzerne-county","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-scranton","14":"tag-scranton-headlines","15":"tag-scranton-news","16":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}