HISTORY OF LA GRANGE GYM
In 1989, a very nice fitness facility closed in La Grange, leaving myself and three of my buddies with no place to work out. We found a vacant warehouse for sale behind "Your C Store", and the owner agreed to rent us half of it until the building sold. We purchased used equipment from a gym in Baytown that had closed, and set up a basic gym. We allowed others to join for a small fee, and operated that way for about 10 years.
Around the year 2000, the building sold to a lady that intended to put in a bookstore in a separate partition of the building (a long story that I won't go into). She intended to set our rent at a level that was unaffordable under our current operating conditions. By this time, two of my three partners had dropped out years back, and it appeared we would have to abandon the gym.
It so happened that a gym business in Smithville was failing, and the owner of that business offered to buy out our equipment and pay the new rental rate, so he could start a new business in La Grange. So we sold him our equipment and was out of the gym business. He knocked out a wall in the warehouse making the gym twice the size, combined his equipment with ours. and established his new fitness facility. Over the next six months, the new business did not do well, and the owner made virtually no rental or equipment payments. He snuck in late one night, loaded up his equipment (and part of ours) and left.
My partner and I were left with a very sparsely furnished gym that was now twice the size. I decided to turn the gym into a real business so I bought out my partner and began a lengthy process. Not wanting to go into major debt, I spent the next year on the biggest do-it-yourself project of my life. I added two dressing rooms, one restroom, partitioning walls, mirrors, signage, and all the electrical outlets needed to support all of the new equipment I would buy. I did have to obtain a loan to buy the equipment, and was fortunate in also procuring a grant from the Main Street Program in La Grange. My brother Dan and I drove two large Ryder moving trucks to Dallas, loaded up the equipment, and spent several days unloading and arranging it. I registered it as a new LLC business and called it La Grange Gym. I held a grand opening, obtained the membership I needed to operate, and have been enjoying the blessing every since!
In 1989, a very nice fitness facility closed in La Grange, leaving myself and three of my buddies with no place to work out. We found a vacant warehouse for sale behind "Your C Store", and the owner agreed to rent us half of it until the building sold. We purchased used equipment from a gym in Baytown that had closed, and set up a basic gym. We allowed others to join for a small fee, and operated that way for about 10 years.
Around the year 2000, the building sold to a lady that intended to put in a bookstore in a separate partition of the building (a long story that I won't go into). She intended to set our rent at a level that was unaffordable under our current operating conditions. By this time, two of my three partners had dropped out years back, and it appeared we would have to abandon the gym.
It so happened that a gym business in Smithville was failing, and the owner of that business offered to buy out our equipment and pay the new rental rate, so he could start a new business in La Grange. So we sold him our equipment and was out of the gym business. He knocked out a wall in the warehouse making the gym twice the size, combined his equipment with ours. and established his new fitness facility. Over the next six months, the new business did not do well, and the owner made virtually no rental or equipment payments. He snuck in late one night, loaded up his equipment (and part of ours) and left.
My partner and I were left with a very sparsely furnished gym that was now twice the size. I decided to turn the gym into a real business so I bought out my partner and began a lengthy process. Not wanting to go into major debt, I spent the next year on the biggest do-it-yourself project of my life. I added two dressing rooms, one restroom, partitioning walls, mirrors, signage, and all the electrical outlets needed to support all of the new equipment I would buy. I did have to obtain a loan to buy the equipment, and was fortunate in also procuring a grant from the Main Street Program in La Grange. My brother Dan and I drove two large Ryder moving trucks to Dallas, loaded up the equipment, and spent several days unloading and arranging it. I registered it as a new LLC business and called it La Grange Gym. I held a grand opening, obtained the membership I needed to operate, and have been enjoying the blessing every since!