$3.8 million Gold’s Gym opens with 8,800 members

MOUNT PLEASANT – Gold’s Gym opened its new $3.8 million facility here Monday with the third-greatest number of opening-day members in company history, according to one of the owners.

The 35,000-square-foot gym occupies the former Office Depot at Racine Centre, 5201 Washington Ave. It contains about $1.2 million in exercise equipment, said Jamie Nelson, one of four owners of Vertical Fitness Group, an Appleton-based franchise company with 12 Gold’s gyms.

“Everything we do is meant to be able to handle a high volume of traffic,” Nelson said.

For example, the locker rooms each have more than 300 day lockers, which members use only during their workout, and Nelson said a locker can turn over five times a day. That’s 3,000 workouts a day.

Right out of the gate, this Gold’s Gym has about 8,800 members, he said. The $10 basic monthly rate has been a big attraction, he said. Vertical Fitness also bought the local Cardinal Fitness of Racine and its approximately 1,600 members.

Among Gold’s Gym’s exercise areas and features:

• A three-lane, 25-yard saltwater pool.
• A 7,500-square-foot resistance area with about $600,000 worth of exercise equipment and weights.
• A spin studio with 36 Lance Armstrong Livestrong stationary bikes.
• Cardio Cinema where members work out in the dark while watching movies on a large screen. The room has 24 pieces and four types of equipment, and each day brings a new film.
• The Cardio Deck, with 150 pieces of equipment and a row of television screens airing sports, news, movie and history channels. The exerciser can choose which one to watch and listen to with headphones.
• A 2,800-square-foot aerobics studio where those who choose the higher-level $19 monthly membership can take classes such as yoga, body pump, zumba and kickboxing.

“We try to offer every type of aerobics class there is,” Nelson said. “And we change our schedule every eight weeks so you don’t get stagnant. … The key to exercise is muscle confusion: constantly changing your workout.”

The $19 membership also includes online meal planning.

The locker rooms have granite counter tops; large, private showers; a steam room; and a seamless epoxy floor that can be pressure-washed each night.

For people with younger children, the 2,500-square-foot Kids Club offers games that demand movement, such as the Simon Says Jump Box.

Gold’s Gym will employ up to 45 people full-time and 35 part-time, Nelson said.