Snap Fitness location shuts down for good!

Snap Fitness For Bronko Lemke, operating the Snap Fitness location in Northfield was only a five-year endeavor.

“Our five-year agreement with Snap as a franchisee was coming to an end, and the space itself was leased for five years as well,” he said.

The 24-hour access gym closed on Thursday.

Lemke took over the Snap Fitness location in early 2012, after he merged it with his own Northfield Athletic Club, buying out former Snap owner Tristan Cox’s share of the business.

He said he has spent the last six weeks meeting with owners of commercial sites in Northfield in an effort to relocate, but was unable to reach an agreement with any of the places he looked into.

“My business was impacted by the YMCA opening up,” he said, adding that a new location and the freedom of not being a Snap Fitness franchisee would be of benefit for a new opportunity.

“I wanted to find a space I could make an agreement with for one year,” Lemke said. “And at the end of that year, if I am failing, lock the doors. But if things are going well, let’s make a new agreement to move forward. No one was willing to do that.”

The location’s equipment will be going into storage until Lemke can plot his next move.

“I’d love to say that I am storing it because I think someone is going to approach me and say, ‘Let’s open a gym,’” he said. “If 60 days pass and there are no opportunities to do something with the equipment in another business, I’ll sell it all on an auction site.”

For current Northfield Snap Fitness members, Lemke said he notified the corporate office not to bill any Northfield member dues going forward.

“I think the members that stayed here are sad to see the end come,” he said. “There are reasons people stay in one place and the people that stuck it out through my five years enjoyed the atmosphere.”

Snap Fitness members Abby and Steve Meierbachtol would agree.

The couple joined Snap even before Lemke took ownership of it, citing the 24-hour accessibility as a plus.

“We got to know the people that used to go at the same time that we did,” Abby Meierbachtol said. “We developed friendships that we’d otherwise not have made.”

The couple also worked with Lemke as their personal trainer for four years.

“Bronko was able to take us from gerbils on a treadmill and he raised our level of strength and balance,” she said. “He didn’t push us to be Olympic athletes but he gave us confidence in ourselves.”

Meierbachtol said both she and her husband were saddened by the news of Lemke’s shuttering the location.

“Bronko has also become a really good friend,” she said. “This has become a part of our routine, and I think it’s a real shame.”

“It’s tough to close the doors,” Lemke said. “I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life, and I’m 62 years old.”