New state of the art gym finally ready to open doors

Close to 500 people have already signed up for the new gym. The business is still searching for staff members to come on board

Snap Fitness Karalee franchisee Tudor Vasile.

A BRAND new state of the art gym will open its doors tomorrow after a six month delay, with close to 500 locals already eager to put it to use.

Snap Fitness Karalee was set to open in March but COVID-19 forced franchisee Tudor Vasile to put on the brakes.

Construction on the new building in Perseverance St started in October but the outbreak of coronavirus forced Mr Vasile to delay on the opening of his eight Snap centre.

Interest from the fast growing Karalee community has been strong; close to 500 people have already signed up as members.

It will finally open on Thursday.

“This is a project that’s been close to 18 months in the making,” Mr Vasile said.

“It was about a month away from opening and COVID hit.

“Everything was turned upside down for a good period of time. Builders stopped work.

“Equipment was sitting in loading docks. Everything was just put on ice.

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“I had people telling me I was crazy for opening the business during this period of time and then I had people saying to me this is a fantastic opportunity.

“It was a big decision but it’s turned out to be a positive decision and a winner in the end.”

Mr Vasile has signed a ten-year lease on the site, which is near two childcare centres and could soon be joined by a swim school.

The 550 sqm facility will open 24 hours a day.

“Our big point of difference is we’re going to be offering group and functional fitness,” he said.

“Group fitness with all the traditional classes like yoga, pilates, pump class and circuit class and we’ve brought in what’s called a Snap Zone which is a functional training area, what I like to say is high performance training.

Snap Fitness Karalee manager Aryan Taefy and franchisee Tudor Vasile.

“We’re really catering for everyone in that functional training space.

“Our equipment has a clear point of difference because it’s all Technogym which is all from Italy.

“The state of the art cardio equipment that we have is all android based with touch screens.”

Snap has long earmarked Karalee as the perfect place for a gym and the strong backing from the community before the new facility even opened has justified the decision for Mr Vasile.

With a large number of young families choosing to settle in the area, creche classes will form an important part of the offering.

Parents can stop by for a session while their little one is looked after.

“When Snap presented me the opportunity to jump on board with doing a gym out here I think I snapped it up within a week and said I’ll do it,” Mr Vasile said.

“It’s been tough.

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“We’re all holding our breath. It’s been overwhelming the amount of people that have been supporting us and joined the club before we even opened.”

Mr Vasile is excited for people to get started and said the gym is well set up to follow COVID-19 safe guidelines.

“We’ve got group fitness, functional fitness, creche then all your free weights and pin loaded (equipment) and cardio area,” he said.

“We’re ticking all the boxes.”

The gym will employ up to 15 people with Mr Vasile still searching for the right people to fill a couple of positions.

“I’ll be looking for an assistant manager to fill that role of 20 hours a week and an additional personal trainer to join the team,” he said.

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

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