Steve Lewis didn’t want to lose the gym he’d worked out at since the early 1990s. Michale Joern thought he could improve both the membership numbers and the layout of that same gym, where membership was dropping. Therese Jones, a licensed yoga instructor, wanted to figure out a way to have a one-stop location
The three of them decided to purchase the gym, formerly called Goals Gym on Glacier Avenue near Juneau-Douglas High School. The motivations to buying the gym were straightforward, and now the name is too — The Gym.
“It just kinda stuck,” Joern said of the name. “It’s neutral, it’s not real male-based, which this gym was really oriented toward before.”
Membership from women has jumped 20 percent in the past month, Joern said, and Jones is looking to start holding yoga classes in the near future, which could get more women involved.
Joern, who had worked at Goals for a few months prior to buying it, is a constant presence at the gym, often there early in the morning and into the evening. Being there for much of the day, Joern has noticed a spike in membership already due to a few changes.
There are no longer any contracts with The Gym that force people to commit long-term. Lewis, who founded and ran Juneau Mountain Rescue for 27 years, pointed out that people are already handcuffed enough by rent payments or other memberships. Jones pointed out that with visitors often coming through Juneau, this gives them a place to workout without any commitment.
“Why should you be held hostage, if you’re only gonna be here for three days in town?” Jones said, “then you’ll get a three-day pass instead of being charged for a week.”
Joern, a former biomedical engineer, handles many of the memberships and said he’s even delivered key cards to people’s hotels before they check in so they can have the card as soon as they arrive in town. Memberships are catered to the patrons, as day passes and 20-visit swipe cards are available in addition to standard monthly memberships.
A one-person membership — which includes 24-hour access — costs $65 per month, and each additional person on the membership costs $30. There are discounts for City and Borough of Juneau employees, as well as State of Alaska employees.
They’re working with boutique fitness businesses including Mountainside Wellness to work on partnerships for the future. Jones said she’s looking to partner with some of these businesses and incorporate their services into what The Gym does, making that spot a “health corner” of sorts.
The trio has been working to reorganize the place as well, configuring the workout equipment differently to make more room and renovating the locker rooms as well. They’ve removed some of the mirrors in the gym to reveal windows and create more natural light (and even a bit of a breeze) in the gym itself.
Joern and Lewis have been darting through the gym at all hours of the day and night for the past month, carrying supplies, reorganizing the areas and more. Lewis, like Joern, has already seen a difference in the crowd.
“Sometimes when I come in here in the middle of the night to do some cleaning or something like that,” Lewis said, “after the day’s over, there’s actually people in the gym.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com or 523-2271.
