Open for Business

We are officially accepting membership registrations. A warm welcome to all of those who signed up today. It is our goal to provide you with great service as well as helping you achieve your fitness goals whatever they may be.

The golf area is not ready yet, hopefully by weeks end. Today was spent signing people up as well as giving the Nautilus area a good cleaning and arranging a better flow for using the circuit.

Beginning Wednesday all entry to the facility will be through use of member codes only. So if you haven't made it in yet please stop in between 6AM-10Am and 3PM-8PM when we will be available to fill out membership paperwork and assign an access code. I plan to keep the blog going so members can keep up to date on any new developments or changes.

Don't forget to email any questions or concerns to cubahometownfitness@gmail.com.

Details Details Details

Phew, what a busy weekend. In addition to taking over the gym we closed on our house. So its been a lot of cleaning, preparing and driving between both. The key less entry is finally installed and we will begin assigning codes when we sign up members on Monday. The speed and heavy bag arrived and has been added to the free weight area. We hope to get the golf net installed and ready for use by the end of the day on Monday. We are picking up our signs for the windows in Buffalo tomorrow so they will be ready for our official opening.

We have put together a schedule when the facility will be staffed for members to sign up. This schedule may change as we begin looking at peak member attendance times. We also appreciate any input from members as to when they would like to have staff on hand.

Here are the hours we will have staff in the gym for our opening weeks:
Monday-Friday - 6 AM-10AM & 3PM-8PM
Saturday & Sunday - 8AM-12PM

Membership prices are as follows:
Single member (one adult age 18 and over): $30.00 monthly

Couple membership (two adults living at same residence age 18 and over): $50.00 monthly

Family membership (up to two adults and children*age 16-17): $55.00 monthly
*Children must be at least 16 of age to use the facility and must be accompanied by parent or legal guardian at all times . Proof of age will be required at time of membership registration.

Discounts will apply to members who choose to utilize our direct deposit service:
Single membership: $27.00 monthly
Couple membership: $45.00 monthly
Family membership: $49.50 monthly

Questions? Please email us at cubahometownfitness@gmail.com

Coming down the home stretch

Time seems to be flying by this week. It seems like there is not enough time to get everything in before we are exhausted. I think it's going to be a few late nights leading up to opening day. I keep forgetting to add that Eugene is also taking a personal training course. When he completes the course in December he can take the exam to become a certified personal trainer. That is definitely something we wanted to be sure we did for our own professional growth as well as ways to work better with our members.

Exercise has not always been a natural habit for us so we can certainly identify with people coming to a fitness center for the first time. It's important to understand how to use equipment correctly and safely. We have both used a personal trainer and really felt the benefit of working out with a program that has been designed just for you. So, once he is certified we will certainly offer personal training for members. I hope to take the course and become a trainer also. Right now my full time job just takes away too much time for me to fit it in.

Tonight Eugene has been installing surveillance and security. We are still waiting for the cable and internet to get connected and will be installing an indoor driving net. Members will be able to keep up with their golf swing all winter with the Pro-Supreme golf net.

Still no word on an ab machine, hoping we will hear something from the great connections we have out looking for it. As soon as we hear about one we'll be sure to work to get it here fast. I'm hoping to post hours and rates tomorrow so come back for the latest update as the countdown begins.

Sorry I'm getting behind

There are clearly not enough hours in the day. I guess that's why a 24 hour gym as a business is a good thing for us. Since our last post even more progress was made. We officially took over the equipment and business on Tuesday. Some of you may have noticed some subtle changes. We've been in tidying up and gave all of the machines a good cleaning as well as leaving spray bottles and cleaner (environmentally friendly of course) for members to clean before or after each use. A water dispenser and scale are a couple of other new additions. The plan will be to encourage members to stay hydrated as well filling their own water bottles. We really would like to do little things to reduce our carbon footprint.

As I write this the security/surveillance system is being put together and should be installed tomorrow. The 24 hour access system will be up and ready for our officially opening on Monday, September 29. Yes, that is only 5 days away! We will post the hours we plan to have the facility staffed in the next couple of days so members can renew or join on the 29th. An official "grand opening" is in the works for the coming weeks.

That's it for today, more to come tomorrow.

Coming soon

The weekend proved to be very productive. We ordered the security system and key-less entry system and await their arrival. We also hope to have cable and internet installed in the next week. Eugene plans on spending the end of the week sprucing up the space and hopes to brighten up things a bit. Our insurance payment was made and now we are waiting for the lease. We are keeping the current Nautilus system for now but still looking for an ab machine. Let us know if there is something you'd like to see us bring in.

Our official opening date is planned for September 29. In the coming days we hope to be able to post our hours and plan for an official "grand opening." Current members can continue to use the facilities and we will notify you when the key-less entry is going to be installed.

If you are interested in joining please email us at cubahometownfitness@gmail.com.

Keep 'em coming

Calls of encouragement continue to come in. It is great to hear so many people who are glad the fitness center is staying open. We should find out the verdict on internet and cable tomorrow. We are also working on finding the appropriate access system and installation of the security and surveillance system. Everything is on schedule and we hope to make the transition seamless for current members. So, keep 'em coming we are looking forward to meeting everyone in person.

Each day one step closer.

Today was a real work day, not for me, but Eugene. The entire day was dedicated to driving around the Buffalo area to gather various necessities for the business. Looking at equipment, purchasing security surveillance, television purchases, and a multitude of phone calls bring us one step closer to our opening day goal. The ab machine was sold before we knew about this opportunity. We felt since it is such a popular and well used machine we need to get one in immediately. So that will be our first piece of "new" equipment. The first of many to come in the next year we hope! Our lease agreement is in the works. The possibility of internet, cable and phone connection provided by the local cable company is being looked into. They have to come look around the building to see if they can do it. Keep your fingers crossed, high-speed internet is vital for a 21st Century Business .

We are so pleased with the response we have already gotten from past and current members who are telling us they plan on joining. It's amazing when you think of how technology allows us to market our business and keep people informed. This blog for instance serves as reassurance (I hope) that we will re-open the fitness center and our customers will know exactly when that will happen.

I think we (Southwestern New Yorkers) have become cynical when it comes to economic growth. We have been let down so many times. We hear about amazing business ventures that are going to build up our economy, only to see them get totally demolished or held up in so much political red tape they lose momentum and interest fades. That's why it's so important for us to share this information. We are making it happen, step by step, one step closer.

It's official

As of today we are officially Hometown Fitness. Yesterday when we began the blog we had attempted, well Eugene had attempted, to get our business license. A little bit of breakdown in communication led to an adventure for Eugene and the girls. In the end the girls got to run around the Allegany County Office of Development and Eugene was able to connect with the nice folks at the Allegany County Business Center in the Crossroads building. So our business license was delayed a bit. We did make sure the name was available so we could at least start this blog and create a logo.

Using a simple site called Vista Print that offers business related materials we created clean logo that symbolizes what we are about. It was pretty inexpensive and allowed us to order some start up promotional materials. We'd rather to put our money towards updating the fitness center than to spend a fortune on graphic designs. I'm pretty happy with what we came up with. I think it looks good, clean and simple. We watch a lot of HGTV and always connect with designers that follow that same philosophy, so Vern Yip would be very happy. Here it is let us know what you think.

So things are moving along nicely as we look towards a projected opening date of around the beginning of October. We should have a firm date to post soon. We meet with the insurance company on Monday and still need to negotiate rent with the owner of the building. In addition to that we have to install the security system and 24 hour access locks. Oh, and working with the local cable to establish a business internet, phone and cable connection. After all we are trying to be high tech so the need to be properly wired is a necessity, at least for me. That's it for today. Hopefully new and exciting updates to come.

A 21st century business begins using 21st century tools.

Welcome to the Hometown Fitness blog. We wanted an opportunity to share information with everyone interested in our entrepreneurial endeavor.

As long time residents and Cuba Central Alumnus (Eugene,'89) and Katie, '90) we are interested in the revitalization and perhaps even growth of this town. When we learned the local fitness center was closing our interest in fitness and in keeping businesses in Cuba we decided to begin this exciting journey.

We will post daily where we are in the process, trials and tribulations, and opportunities for you, our readers and consumers, to comment.

So our journey begins.....