Earlier this year, United PF Partners added two new clubs to its portfolio, bringing its total to 124 locations across 10 states.  

This spring, Kansas City, Missouri, and Rostraver Township, Pennsylvania, each welcomed a new, 18,000–square–foot Planet Fitness® club to its community complete with a grand celebration. 

On May 7, during the Kansas City grand–opening celebration, city leaders, including the mayor, Congressmen and councilmen, and staff of Greater Kansas City, joined in for the ribbon cutting and a check presentation of $5,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City.  

In addition, United PF Partners held an open house event for the community on May 11. United PF Partners invited the immediate neighborhoods to participate in an instructor-led workout or simply use the club for free that day. The open house was complete with free barbecue from Gates Bar-B-Q, kid’s activities and performances by the local Marching Cobras drill team in the parking lot. Hot 103 Jamz! pumped up the crowd and provided giveaways, including Mary J. Blige and Nas tickets, along with station-branded giveaways.  

“The event was a big success and allowed us to cement ourselves as part of the community,” said Erin Tuller, senior marketing coordinator for UPF. “For this club, it was very important to leverage a relationship with a local PR firm, Phillips-West. They had a history of promoting similar business openings in the neighborhood. We wanted to be sure that we did not inadvertently alienate any of the immediate neighborhood groups, associations, chambers, etc. Phillips-West helped us determine which chambers would have the most impact for our club as well as navigate our immersion into the community.” 

On April 11, during the grand–opening celebration of the Rostraver Township location, United PF Partners presented a $5,000 donation to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Laurel Region and had a ribbon–cutting ceremony, which included representatives from the Big Brothers Big Sisters along with staff of the Greater Rostraver Chamber of Commerce.  

“We focus on creating a space where everyone in the community feels accepted and respected. We were happy to partner and take part in promoting the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Laurel Region, whose values truly align with our initiatives here at Planet Fitness,” said Gary Williams, regional director of United PF Partners. “We are very excited and thankful to have been welcomed to the Rostraver community with open arms.” 

With opening new clubs comes little hiccups here and there, and United PF Partners ran into a small problem with naming the club. “Historically, the area had been known as Belle Vernon. However, the community had been wanting its own identity separate from Belle Vernon and was in the middle of lobbying the state and U.S. Postal Service to officially change the name to Rostraver Township,” said Williams. “We decided to go with what our member community identified with most strongly. Welcome, PF Rostraver!”