TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Losing our Florida A&M, Florida State and Tallahassee Community College graduates to other cities is something Tallahassee commissioners are working to change. Crunch Fitness is one of the newest employers in town and has that same goal in mind as well as being a boost for our local economy.
Crunch Fitness is taking the place of what used to be a Winn Dixie on Tharpe Street in Tallahassee. Once the $9 million dollar renovation is finished, at 55,000 square feet it will be the biggest gym in the state of Florida.
Crunch will be open 24 hours, 7-days a week and they’re targeting college graduates to fill over 100 open positions.
“I’ve always looked at these fitness facilities as a great feeder program for the health programs that are at the colleges,” said Crunch Fitness General Manager, Nic Farmer. “Just because once you finish your exercise physiology degree or your sports management degree you can come to crunch fitness and go ahead to get that training and get that experience.”
Memberships to Crunch start at $9.99 per month. The gym is hoping to start with about 2000 members.
That extra foot traffic could be huge for local business in the area like confidence cuts barbershop.
“People notice you as soon as they pull up in the parking lot, they’ll notice the barbershop here,” said Sherman William who owns Confident Cuts Barber Shop. “It’s huge. We can have a connection with the workers over there and the members. We can build clientele off that.”
Crunch also a perks program, where members who join the gym will get discounts at participating local businesses.
“Wow,” was the immediate reaction from Tallahassee Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox once she walked into the future home of Crunch Fitness. She says the facility will attract more businesses to the area.
“It will attract more people. It will attract activity. It may attract grocery stores, it may attract others to come and help revitalize this area to grow. We want all part of Tallahassee to grow but I’m really excited about it happening here on the Tharpe Street corridor.”
Crunch Fitness hopes to open sometime in late January.
