Bayshore gym revolution blends fitness, wellness
Mazzella’s Eastpointe aims to offer total health solutions
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – Growing up in Keansburg, Paul Mazzella was an industrious child who gravitated toward activities that helped others.
And he successfully channeled that proclivity into his 2007 launch of Eastpointe Health & Fitness, an Atlantic Highlands-based destination that offers total body fitness as well as services to relieve chronic pain and restore wellness, including massage, physical therapy, acupuncture and chiropractic care.
Though he dabbled in sports in school, “I always had a job when I was young, from a paper route and a lemonade stand venture when I was a kid to working at the deli around the corner in my teens,” said Mazzella, 54, an Atlantic Highlands resident. “I did well in school and served as class president numerous times.”
After attending Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on an Army ROTC scholarship and graduating with a degree in business management, Mazzella served in the National Guard and then moved to New York City for IT-related jobs at such companies as Price Waterhouse and Citibank.
He followed this by earning his MBA at New York University’s Stern School of Business and working at Investment Technology Group (ITG).
After paying off his school debts by 2000, “I was looking for good investments and learned that someone I knew in Atlantic Highlands was trying to buy a 4,500-square-foot gym called Sculpt Fitness from the owner who’d opened it a few years prior,” said Mazzella, who soon got involved and invested money as a silent partner.
He and his partner parted ways shortly after and Mazzella took over the gym with the intent to sell it or find someone else to run it. Yet, “here I am, almost 25 years later!” he joked.
“In 2007, my brother, Dr. Jay Mazzella, brought his chiropractic practice onto our site and we renamed the gym Eastpointe Health & Fitness, in recognition of the Eastpointe shopping center and nearby high-rise community we were located in as well as the new health and wellness services we were able to offer,” Mazzella said. “At that time, we expanded the club to 6,500 square feet by taking over the space next door to us in our plaza, and five years later we took over two other spaces located elsewhere throughout the plaza in order to launch our shake bar and training studio as well as Jay’s new physical therapy space.”
As luck would have it, all of the pieces finally came together nine years ago.
“In 2015, we moved to a much larger space on the other side of the plaza that was formerly occupied by the shortlived supermarket Top Tomato, and we were excited to be able to bring everything back together and build/design the space to order,” Mazzella said.
Not just ‘working out’
Today, in their airy 12,000-square-foot space featuring high ceilings, great air flow and an attractive second-floor mezzanine, “we provide all of your health and wellness needs under one roof, from fitness and nutrition to a range of other beneficial services,” Mazzella said.
“On the fitness side, we offer a broad range of industryproven workout equipment, group fitness classes in yoga, Spin, Pilates and Body Sculpt, and a high-end training product and full personal training studio,” Mazzella said. “These services are available at price points that meet any budget, from basic memberships priced at $49/month ($44.50 for seniors and students) to all-inclusive training memberships that run $257/month and up.
“Through Jay’s ‘Eastpointe Integrated Healthcare’ practice onsite, we offer chiropractic, physical therapy, massage and acupuncture, and my sister Kim, who holds a nutrition and food science degree from Montclair State University and has been part of our team since 2008, serves as assistant manager and nutritionist,” said Mazzella, who noted that Eastpointe Health & Fitness also offers a shake bar and child care.
With clients hailing primarily from Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Middletown, “we have a super-local and diverse membership that includes everyone from seniors to a growing population of teens who come to exercise after their high school day ends,” Mazzella said. “We’ve found that, especially since the pandemic, people are into total wellness, not just ‘working out,’ but not a lot of places offer all of the options that we do, so we’re a unique destination.”
Like many other gyms, Mazzella said that the pandemic threw an unexpected wrinkle into what had previously been a strong business model.
“We started out with maybe 200 members when I first took over the gym from my previous partner over 20 years ago, and by early 2020, I had increased that to over 1,200 members and finally considered the club a financial success,” Mazzella said. “Then the pandemic hit and we had to close.”
Over the ensuing six months in 2020, “we were open in a variety of different ways, and it felt like every 45 days we had to change our business model based on how many people we were allowed to let in,” Mazzella recalled.
“When we reopened, it was like we were back to where we’d been 15 years ago with 500 members and had to build it back up again. We just finished that process in the past six months and will finally have as strong a quarter as we did in early 2020 before the pandemic,” he said. “It’s a good update – finally! – and something we’re excited to celebrate.
“It’s been a long time coming, and without my sister and brother, I’m not sure we would have made it,” added Mazzella, who hopes to see fitness elevated to an “essential” activity as one of the lessons learned from the pandemic.
“The rise in physical and mental health issues during and after the pandemic proved the importance of maintaining physical and emotional wellness,” he said. “We need to get and keep our country healthy so that we’re not set back by events like the pandemic if they happen again.”
A complex operation
Mazzella said running a business like Eastpointe Health & Fitness is laden with challenges.
“It’s a complex operation with a lot
of moving pieces – equipment issues, trainer turnover, etc. – that require constant oversight to get right,” said Mazzella, who directs activities both operationally and strategically.
“But we have a fantastic team of over 40 trainers, instructors and customer service personnel on the fitness side of the club alone and have managed to run a full-service business while maintaining a comfortable, family-owned feeling,” he continued. “We offer so much to our members, but we’re local. You’ll see people you know here, and it’s a friendly, social and familiar environment.”
In the future, “I’m thinking about what expanding might look like as we continue to grow,” Mazzella said. “It might involve more group fitness classes in different formats and spaces as well as more space for the main gym floor.”
In the meantime, Mazzella is enjoying the ride.
“I love talking to and interacting with people, sharing ideas and communicating – doing that with members and staff is a great way to spend the day,” he said.
But supporting others on their journey remains Mazzella’s favorite part of the job.
“It’s exciting to help people embrace the benefits of wellness, give them the product they need to be successful, and then see them achieve their weight loss, fitness or wellness goals,” Mazzella said. “There’s truly nothing more rewarding.”