Burbines turning risk into success
Couple opens new gym facility
AMHERST — There’s nothing like taking a leap of faith at a time of uncertainty.
For Denise and Deon Burbine, taking risks is nothing new and they keep coming out a winner.
Four years after first opening Burbine’s Gym on Robert Angus Drive, the couple decided late last year to take the plunge to purchase their own property and make the move across town.
“It was an investment opportunity for us. The opportunity became available,” Denise said. “We had been thinking about opening our own space so we weren’t putting money into someone else. This also gave us more of an opportunity to expand.”
They bought what was formerly the home to a dental office as well as Maggie’s Place and early intervention on LaPlanche Street last December and began making plans to move. Then COVID-19 happened. Instead of changing their plans, however, they pushed ahead and were recently rewarded when the gym opened in its new home.
Deon said it was a good move to make and one they had to make to grow.
“The time was right,” he said. “We didn’t have any more room to grow where we were, plus we wanted something we could call our own.”
The new gym features an expansive collection of weights. There is also a large assortment of treadmills, steppers, elliptical trainers, stationary bikes and recumbent bikes.
“We have a lot of great equipment. Deon has handpicked all the equipment. From our original opening we have only kept six pieces. Everything else has been replaced,” she said, adding there is additional space upstairs that will eventually become a studio for the cardio equipment, with the potential for classes.
“Right now, we’re not in a position to offer classes, but that’s something we’d like to do when we expand into the upstairs portion,” she said. “We’ll have about 1,000 square feet of studio space for cardio as well as classes.”
They also have more gym and cardio equipment sitting in storage ready to be set up when they expand.
“We have all kinds of stuff at home plus the storage container with all the gym equipment,” Deon said. “We have so much space to grow.”
The couple looked at the building when they first opened the gym, but decided it would be too much of a risk to take on the ownership of a building at the same time as establishing a business. Several years after opening the gym in leased space, they took another look at the LaPlanche Street building and knew the time was right.
Buying the building was one thing, turning it into a gym was quite another.
“When we first came in after buying it there were all kinds of rooms, especially on the ground floor where Maggie’s Place used to be. Upstairs (where there) was dental and hearing there were offices,” she said.
Deon started planning renovations soon after they made the purchase and from May through October he spent hundreds of hours converting office space into a gym.
COVID was a bit of a blessing because they had more time to prepare their new space while restrictions led to the temporary closure of their previous location, meaning they didn’t have to operate one location while doing construction at another.
Denise admitted it was a big gamble in 2016 when the gym first opened and then a year later they took another chance when they expanded their footprint and extended their lease. She said Deon was the person who always went to the gym, having formerly been a member at Your Place Fitness, while she was the manager working behind the scenes. When Your Place closed it made sense for them to open their own gym - even if it was risky.
Amherst has featured other gyms in the past. They would last for several years and then disappear due to a lack of membership and changing interests.
To her, that’s the past as people care much more about their health.
“I feel that gyms and fitness centres are not something that are going to go away. It’s no longer a fad,” she said. “It’s something more people are doing for their physical health and for their mental health as well.”
She thinks it is great to be downtown. With more than 200 members, she expects it will draw additional traffic to the area.
The feedback has also been very positive, something she and Deon appreciate after months of hard work to make it happen. They have never had self-doubts either.
“We always knew that even though there were slow months, there was never a month that we wondered what we were doing,” Denise said.
Deon said they never went into the business to make a significant income. They did it because it was something they wanted to do and they’ve enjoyed every moment of it.
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