The new owners of Fitness West vow to retain the old-school approach and charm that has made the gym a fixture in Pacific Beach for more than 30 years.
\nBoth\u00a0longtime members of the fitness center, new co-owners Brian Curry and Shari Simpson recently took over operation of the facility, on the second floor at 1880 Garnet Ave. in Pacific Plaza II Shopping Center. They bought it from Paul and Peter Dufour, who\u2019d run the gym since 1985.
\n“It\u2019s a gym for locals, it\u2019s not corporate and it\u2019s always been family owned,” said Curry, of the profile of the 1,200-member fitness center. “People come here because its more than just a gym: It\u2019s a social thing.”
\n“It took years,” joked previous owner Paul Dufour, about he and his brother selling the club to Simpson-Curry.
\n“Some days I\u2019d just come in here and say, \u2018Hey guys, when do you want to sell?,\u2019” said Curry. “It went on for years, no high pressure. I\u2019d had one year of retirement, not working, and then it worked out perfectly. [The Dufours] finally came out and said, \u2018We\u2019re ready.\u2019 So on Jan. 1, we did it.”
\n“It was time,” said Paul Dufour of relinquishing ownership.\u00a0
\n“This was their baby,” pointed out Simpson.
\nOf their stewardship of the gym, Paul Dufour, said: “We tried to make it comfortable for everyone. Those serious could come in here and get a serious workout. We\u2019d also spend a lot of time with the people just starting out.”
\nAbout the gym\u2019s trademark collegiality, Simpson commented: “A good example is a Zumba class here. We also have a broad range of all ages, all types. It\u2019s just a really friendly gym. And there\u2019s a strong sense of community within the walls.”
\n“If you ask any member what they like about it, they\u2019ll probably say, \u2018We just like the people,\u2019” said Curry. “That\u2019s what it\u2019s about.”\u00a0
\nFitness West has a wide assortment of exercise equipment including elliptical machines, treadmills, stairclimbers, Lifecycles, rowing machines, free weights and a complete collection of Nautilus equipment.\u00a0
\nThe fitness studio also offers group exercise classes, such as: boot camp cross training, yoga, spinning cycling, core and strength training, Zumba and Pilates.
\nThe gym has no long-term contracts, offering month-to-month memberships instead. Personal training is available.
\nWorking in the real estate industry for 30 years, Curry said it was time for a change for him too. “The only gym I wanted to buy was this one,” he said. “I wanted it in PB.”
\nOf Fitness West and its drawing power, Simpson predicted continuity is what will keep the gym going.
\n“[The Dufours] had been in business for more than 30 years and they\u2019d seen so many trends come and go,” she said. “It\u2019s a neighborhood gym. We have the basics. We have the standards. We have the community. We keep the classes up to date. We always keep it fresh.”
\n“We\u2019re the same gym, the same brand,” said Curry. “We\u2019re going to be here for a while.” Fitness West Where: Pacific Plaza II 1880 Garnet Ave. Hours:?Mondays through Thursdays 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Fridays 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sundays 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Info:?fitnesswestpb.com, 858-272-9378<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The new owners of Fitness West vow to retain the old-school approach and charm that has made the gym a fixture in Pacific Beach for more than 30 years. Both\u00a0longtime members of the fitness center, new co-owners Brian Curry and Shari Simpson recently took over operation of the facility, on the second floor at 1880 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":257478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"New owners of Fitness West vow to keep core values","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}