Growing list of Erie gyms suggests town is crazy for fitness. Or is it market saturation?

Posted by author February 19, 2025 Fitness

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A grocery store once occupied 1520 W. 26th St.

Tops Friendly Markets left the space in 2023. It sat vacant for more than a year.

Among the building’s new tenants? Crunch Fitness, a national gym chain which opened its first Erie location in November of 2024.

One mile northwest of Crunch sits Erie Fitness Now, a 30,000-square-foot club that rivals Crunch’s 45,000 square feet. Across the street from Erie Fitness Now sit FitnessU, iRock Fitness, Sinai Sports and more.

Planet Fitness maintains three Erie locations. Erie Fitness Academy thrives inside an Edinboro Road building which once housed a Hostess Cakes distributor.

Between Erie’s sprawling, one-stop fitness centers lie dozens of smaller, locally owned facilities which specialize in sectors such as boxing, climbing, powerlifting and more.

Is Erie crazy for fitness? Or will this market grow oversaturated?

Local professionals suggest the former. Social media and growing societal concern for personal health may be to blame.

Crunch brings new option to city

More than two million people attend Crunch Fitness’ 450-plus United States-based clubs. What prompted a corporation of this size to pursue an Erie franchise?

Florida-based Fitness Ventures LLC, which operates nearly 50 Crunch clubs across 27 states, saw opportunity at the former Tops on W. 26th. It hired Chet Dine as Crunch Erie’s general manager.

“It seemed like this pocket of the city may have been a little underserved,” said Dine, an Erie native. “There are already established fitness centers on the outskirts but, in the inner city of Erie, all you really had for a true option was a YMCA.”

Initial membership exceeded expectations. This “high value, low cost” provider, as Dine described Crunch, offers tanning beds, massage chairs and room for group workouts, plus traditional strength and cardio equipment.

“With the amount of people in this pocket, the building and the location, I think (Fitness Ventures) hit a home run,” Dine said. “A lot of people thought it was almost too good to be true.”

Erie Fitness Now, formerly known as Iron Oxygen Fitness, boasts similar amenities across the city line in Millcreek Township. The club, owned locally by Matt and Anthony Pribonic, re-designed its space shortly before Crunch opened.

Massage chairs, tanning beds and infrared saunas were added. A stretching area, “recovery zone,” and a dedicated space for new class offerings are new, too.

“Everyone is becoming very competitive in having diversity under their roof,” said Sarah McHale, Erie Fitness Now’s gym director. “It’s kind of like who likes Starbucks, Tim Horton’s or Dunkin’. You try them all and see which is the best fit.”

Erie crazy for fitness?

Dine left Erie for six years. He noticed a change upon returning.

Running groups appear more popular. Barber Institute’s Beast on the Bay event thrives. Summer evenings at Presque Isle State Park are packed with cyclists, joggers and hikers.

“I do think that maybe the fitness bug has been re-vitalized in the city,” Dine said. “There’s not a lot to do outside in the winter, so having a fun outlet beside your traditional bar scene, I think people like having somewhere to go.”

Perhaps Erie’s social media-influenced, university-age population, coupled with an increasing societal concern for health, has boosted this industry.

“Fast food, sedentary jobs, and our lives are just so busy,” McHale said. “Our bodies react to that. I think people are starting to see that, to feel our best, we do need to take care of ourselves.”

Erie Fitness Academy’s “Make Erie Healthy Again” campaign seeks to capitalize on this realization. Partnerships with local businesses offer introductory discounts to employees.

This comes as the McKean Township facility, which opened in 2013, plans to expand. It’s not a political campaign, club leaders said, but rather a health campaign.

“We don’t have something like (massage therapy). But they want the same that we do,” said Giordano Nunemaker, Erie Fitness Academy’s vice president. “They want to help change lifestyles and fulfill this mission.”

Strength training is cool?

When Erieites go to the gym, what are they doing?

It depends who you ask. It depends where you go.

Some gyms specialize in one sport or discipline. Among them is powerlifting, a sport which perennially draws dozens of athletes to Erie for sanctioned meets.

Erie’s love for powerlifting is perhaps most evident in the birth and growth of American Power Gym at 1860 W. 26th St. Opened in September 2023 by Waterford residents Gerry and Diane Lewis, this isn’t just a powerlifting gym, but its name reflects the athletes who train inside.

“Squat, bench and deadlift is powerlifting, but it’s also useful for functional fitness and older populations,” Diane Lewis said. “I work with the older generation and Gerry does the powerlifting to keep everyone healthy.”

‘Lewis Legacy,’ their powerlifting team, started in 2016 when James and David Lewis grew interested in the sport. Gerry and Diane Lewis’ twin sons soon brought training partners to their parents’ basement.

“Once we got eight or 10 people blasting heavy metal music, it became too much,” Gerry Lewis said. “We branched out and went to other gyms, but I got tired of giving money to other gyms, so we opened our own.”

American Power hosts meets sanctioned through the “100% RAW” federation, including the long-running Great Lakes championships each spring. Erie Fitness Academy won the 2024 meet, which drew lifters from local powerlifting strongholds such as Joe’s Gym.

“Every time we have a meet, people come in here and wonder what we’re doing,” Diane Lewis said. “A lot of people like the 100% RAW where they know it’s no drugs or equipment.”

Meets average 75 lifters. Other federations exist nationwide, but Erie is known as a hotbed for 100% RAW athletes.

Powerlifting has especially grown among women.

“If you had 60 lifters, maybe eight of them would be females,” Gerry Lewis said. “We hosted a meet where it was half and half.”

It’s not just powerlifting. People like strength training.

Planet Fitness started an initiative in 2024 which brought new, plate-loaded strength equipment into its 2,500-plus U.S. clubs, including all three in Erie.

“We noticed the change happen about two years ago,” said Kendra Turick, club manager of the Planet Fitness at 4510 Buffalo Road. “Our strength training area was always the most packed. I’m glad to see that our member base and the company are both paying attention to current fitness trends and moving with them instead of against them.”

What’s behind this trend? Professionals point to social media.

Tristan Delgado, a personal trainer at Planet Fitness in Erie, said most folks new to the gym seek strength training. Even his oldest client, at 87, inquired about the new equipment.

“Influencers do mostly strength stuff,” Delgado said. “The younger crowd will say, ‘I saw this on Tik Tok, can we mimic this here’?”

Turick said her location also received new cardio equipment but downsized its overall cardio area.

More than lifting weights

This industry spans far beyond lifting weights.

Red Level Boxing, a national brand which houses boxing-inspired workouts, has a location within Erie Fitness Now. FitnessU features a pool across the street, as do most YMCA branches, and FBO Fitness on Chestnut Street houses CrossFit training.

Ascend Erie, located at 426 State St., brought indoor climbing to the area in 2023.

“We were surprised by how many people had already been climbing outdoors or in other areas who lived in Erie,” said Chris Rosato Jr., general manager of Ascend Erie. “We expected our membership to be almost entirely new climbers.”

Aside from boasting Erie’s only climbing walls, Ascend also offers yoga and fitness classes. Popular among college students, it’s welcomed climbing and outdoor activity clubs from Gannon, Penn State Behrend, Grove City College and more.

Climbing for a workout, Rosato said, is something one may not realize is happening until its completion.

“I got done climbing and my muscles were so sore,” Rosato said. “I didn’t even realize I was working out; I was having so much fun the whole time.”

Future of Erie fitness?

Erieites have plenty of fitness options. Can all of them co-exist?

More than 100 bars exist in Erie. The region is not known as a hotbed for healthy cuisine options.

What’s a few more gyms?

“There are other types of businesses like smoke shops popping up everywhere, so if you look at it from a health perspective, I think (Crunch) is great for Erie,” McHale said. “It’s not selfish to nourish and take care of your body. Because then you can be a better mom, better co-worker, better aunt.”

American health statistics remain grave. According to a CDC report from May of 2024, more than 40% of Americans have obesity, and obesity accounted for nearly $173 billion in 2019 medical expenditures.

Could social media help reverse these trends? In Erie, there may be hope.

“Erie has 250,000 people. Even with all the gyms in the area, we can’t house them all,” Nunemaker said. “But there is still great value in providing information and helping people learn that you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars every month to be healthy.”

Contact Jeff Uveino at juveino@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @realjuveino.