The beginning of summer is the perfect time for Planet Fitness® franchisees to open a new club location because prospective members may be trying to get fit for the season. Additionally, many members may be trying to avoid the hot summer heat. Taymax Group successfully opened its 153rd location in Northampton, a section of Tallahassee, Florida. This location is the franchise group’s 21st location in Florida and fourth within the capital city.
The group picked the area for its newest location based on the area’s growing community. Northampton is close to Florida State University and the state’s Capitol Building. From the beginning, there was a lot of interest in this new Planet Fitness club among residents. Through Taymax’s community engagement and brand recognition, this club was able to open its doors to nearly 1,100 excited members.
Taymax has been busy this summer! In addition to this new club opening, the Taymax team completed 10 reequips across four states – California, Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania. In June, the group also completed an extensive club remodel in Dothan, Alabama. From these projects, it is clear that Taymax Group is working hard to serve PF® members well.
On July 31, Ohana Growth Partners hosted a meet and greet event with University of Alabama Softball star Jenna Johnson at its Planet Fitness® club in Franklin, Tennessee. During the event, the community was welcomed to pose for pictures and get autographs from Johnson.
There were also light refreshments available for attendees. There were about 30 people who showed up to the event, and the club had 202 check-ins during that time. Members and non-members had the opportunity to utilize the free PE@PF sessions, led by a PF® trainer.
Johnson is known for being chosen three times for SportsCenter Top 10 Plays and for being selected for Second Team All-SEC and SEC All-Tournament Team in 2023. She is also a two-time Tennessean Sports Awards finalist. For Johnson, the Planet Fitness Franklin club is home, as she went to school nearby and won multiple single-season records at Page High School in Franklin. Whenever she visits the town, she chooses to work out at Planet Fitness Franklin.
“I had an awesome time at the Planet Fitness meet and greet in Franklin, Tennessee. It was such a cool opportunity to get to go back to my hometown gym that I used to train at when I was 16,” Johnson said. “It was a full circle moment that I’m very appreciative of. I got the opportunity to meet many young girls in the Franklin area who I hope to inspire to be great athletes and people. I even got to meet a girl who said she wears the number 88 because she loved watching me play, and that’s a moment I’ll never forget. I want to say thank you to all the Planet Fitness staff who made this opportunity possible. They spent a lot of time and effort behind the scenes to put on a spectacular event.”
Ohana Growth Partners celebrated the grand opening of its location in Marysville, Washington, on May 10. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Jon Nehring and Tulalip Marysville Chamber of Commerce, as well as a $1,000 check presentation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County.
Giveaways and prizes were distributed, including a 65-inch Smart TV, Amazon Echo Show, Apple Watch, University of Washington Huskies game tickets and specialty items. To ring in the celebration, there were special appearances by Washington Huskies football players Ulumoo Ale and Elijah Jackson. There were free workouts and a 30-Minute Express Circuit demo. Ale and Jackson participated in the 30-Minute Circuit demo and drew the raffle prize winners. In total, about 150 people attended the event.
The Marysville club features cardio machines and strength equipment, 30-Minute Express Circuit, fully equipped locker rooms with lockers and showers and flat screen televisions. The club’s Black Card Spa includes HydroMassage beds, massage chairs, tanning and a RelaxSpace Wellness Pod, which is the first for a Planet Fitness® in the Seattle area.
Ohana Growth Partners owns and operates 75 Planet Fitness clubs in Maryland, District of Columbia, Tennessee, Florida, Washington State and California. The franchise group is also a joint venture partner with six clubs in Australia. The Smokey Point club is Planet Fitness’s 28th location and Ohana Growth Partners’ 12th in the Seattle area. The group also has clubs in Bremerton, Burlington, Downtown Seattle, Everett, Federal Way, Lacey, Mill Creek, North Seattle, Oak Harbor, Olympia and Rainier Beach.
Volunteering is not always glamourous. Sometimes it means getting dirty and doing extremely tiring work. However, this type of volunteer work can be some of the most rewarding.
National Fitness Partners arranged several clean-up events in the Northeast this spring. On April 1, Sussex County, Delaware, was hit by an EF-3 tornado that wreaked havoc on the town. Since the tornado was a 3 out of 5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, there was extensive damage, and the community desperately needed help. Partnering with United Way of Delaware (UWDE), the franchise group’s staff members stepped in to lend a helping hand over two days in April. The volunteers went to various sites in the county to help clean up debris left by the tornado. In total, 10 Planet Fitness® employees stepped in to help.
“When natural disaster strikes so close to home, it can be pretty alarming and intense, but the beautiful thing about PF® and what we were able to do for multiple days with UWDE was give back to our local members, neighbors, friends and families,” said General Manager of Planet Fitness Seaford Amanda Reed. “We were able to not only have a positive impact on our community but have a sizeable positive impact on our community when our community truly and desperately needed it. The best part was that our volunteer days with UWDE brought together PF team members of all locations and backgrounds — we had managers, support staff, front desk team members and even relatives of PF team members. Some drove a few minutes and some drove a couple of hours just to fill a need. The most difficult of situations brought out the best in people when it was most needed.”
National Fitness Partners didn’t stop there with its clean-up efforts. On April 20, several of NFP’s assistant general managers, general managers and support staff volunteered to pick up trash at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. The event was arranged through the Philadelphia Union’s Volunteer Program, U-Serve. The Philadelphia Union is a professional soccer club based in the metro Philadelphia area. U-Serve is the teams’ volunteer program where people receive exclusive Philadelphia Union experiences and prizes in exchange for volunteer hours with local and national organizations.
On March 23, the franchise group’s staff members also visited Killens Pond State Park in Felton, Delaware, to help clean up the park and lay down new mulch. Area Director for National Fitness Partners Dominique States and several of her GMs and AGMs visited the park to help.
“Unfortunately, it did rain, but that didn’t stop this team from getting everything done! We laid mulch on two playgrounds and walked the picnic area and picked up the trash. We had a great time working together and then headed out to lunch to catch up with everyone,” States said.
Nine volunteers from National Fitness Partners helped to clean up Killens Pond State Park in Felton, Delaware.
National Fitness Partners hosted a celebration June 14 for the opening of its Broad Street Planet Fitness®. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the 20,745-square-foot club features over 100 pieces of cardio equipment, three tanning booths, two HydroMassage lounges and a Wellness Pod.
The club’s grand opening event included an array of entertainment for attendees. There was a meet and greet portion with Brandon Graham and Landon Dickerson from the Philadelphia Eagles football team. Attendees had a chance to win raffle baskets from the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, Philadelphia Union soccer team and Philadelphia Eagles. Santucci’s, a pizza restaurant in the area, provided food. Celsius had a brand ambassador come to the event to conduct samplings of its product, and Devoted Creations sent NFP tanning packets to hand out during the event.
As of July 26, there were 1,624 current members at the location. The franchise group has 17 Philadelphia locations and over 40 locations in the greater Philadelphia area.
“Opening a new club in Center City Philadelphia comes with a unique set of challenges. This would not have been possible without the commitment, dedication and teamwork of our construction company, vendors and NFP family. We were excited to have a celebration for our new members and club,” said Elaina Smith, regional director of operations (East) for National Fitness Partners.
