New owner as Snap Fitness reopens

Douglassville gym welcomes clients for first time since March

DOUGLASSVILLE » After being closed since mid-March, Snap Fitness in Douglassville has reopened. The 24/7 fitness facility in the Douglassville Shopping Center reopened Tuesday, Sept. 1, with new owners Bruce and Mary Monteiro.

Over the last couple of months, the couple purchased all of the equipment in the 4,000 square foot facility from former owner John Stockton, negotiated a lease with the landlord and worked out a franchise agreement with Snap Fitness. Over the weekend, the couple held a soft-opening at the location — signing up new and returning members.

Bruce Monteiro said he and his wife Mary were members of that Snap Fitness location. They and other members received notification from Stockton in the spring that he would be closing the gym permanently. Stockton had owned and operated the franchise location since it opened in 2008.

“We reached out to him pretty quickly after that to see what his plans were and what it would involve for us to take it over,” Monteiro said. “John owned all the stuff — the weights, mirrors — everything in the gym. He had already ended his franchise agreement with Snap Fitness so the second part of the puzzle was to work with them on what they wanted.”

The third part, Monteiro said was working with the landlord about the lease.

“It was great — everyone wanted to work with us,” he added. “Snap Fitness waived some fees and agreed to a one year initial agreement, as did the landlord.” That one year commitment was an important piece for Monteiro, given the continuing uncertainty around coronavirus.

The first conversations were in early May, according to Monteiro and by the beginning of August the couple had made a serious commitment.

“A lot of it for me was doing due diligence before committing,” he said, adding that he negotiated “fail safes” in the agreements, in case circumstances lead to another shutdown. “We had to negotiate these things because of the uncertainty.”

Once the agreements were in place and all the paperwork completed, the new owners began reaching out to former members of the Douglassville gym to let them know they would be reopening the facility Sept. 1.

DONNA ROVINS — MEDIANEWS GROUP PHOTO Mary and Bruce Monteiro have purchased and reopened the Douglassville franchise location of Snap Fitness. The 24/ 7 fitness facility has been closed since March due to the coronavirus. The couple purchased the gym when the former owner announced he would be closing it permanently.

DONNA ROVINS — MEDIANEWS GROUP PHOTO A treadmill at the Snap Fitness location in Douglassville with a sign saying the piece of equipment is not available for use. Signage is one of the measures implemented by the facility when it reopened Sept. 1 under new ownership.