Business focus: Snap Fitness offers family-friendly atmosphere
Pat Kristenson drove by a corner lot on the outskirts of Hayden several times a week without taking much notice. But once a building went up over the former grassland and she saw the new business moving in, the Post Falls resident decided it was somewhere she would have to frequent much more often.
“When I saw the sign for Snap Fitness, I thought I’m going to check it out because I have a lot of weight to lose,” Kristenson said after an energetic workout during the facility’s opening week. The new Hayden club provided Kristenson the opportune answer to a long-wanted local health club. “I just wanted someplace that I could go, work out and go home.”
The nearly 3,000-square-foot health club in the West Prairie Center strip on the corner of Atlas Road and West Prairie Avenue, boasts state-of-the-art Cybex workout equipment, four 42-inch flat-panel TVs, a stand up tanning booth and rows of elliptical machines and tread mills positioned parallel to the running strip of full-length mirrors.
Though the Snap brand is a franchise chain based out of Minnesota with almost 1,000 stores nationwide and a Post Falls club in the works, the Hayden branch couldn’t be more local, said owner Doug Mohney.
“This is a neighborhood type club,” Mohney said in between greeting new members and curious visitors to the store’s grand opening. “It’s for your average person, somebody who wants to get and stay fit.”
Mohney, a veterinarian who has spent countless hours in surgery during a 27-year career, decided it was time to start looking into something more low-key as his retirement looms closer. “I developed some degenerative disk problems in my back,” the Post Falls resident said. “Because of my body, I’ve got to back off. I decided to look into some options.”
After consulting with consumer experts on other options, the Snap Fitness idea emerged as the clear choice. “This was perfect,” Mohney said. “It just felt like the right thing for me to do.”
But where would it go?
“I drove all over,” Mohney said, but added he kept coming back to the same spot. “This intersection I wanted so badly; it seemed like the perfect area for it. There was nothing here yet, no commercial development.”
With the plaza fully developed and operational, Mohney and the handful of Snap employees have welcomed a steady stream of fitness- minded locals. Most Snap stores are designed to accommodate residents within a two- to three-mile radius from the club, said Nick Freese, the Hayden branch manager. That fits well with the club’s long-term plan, Freese said, since the area has developed so rapidly.
“It’s nice and quaint and more intimate. … It’s not really designed as a muscle head gym,” he said. “The majority of people who come here are going to just want to work out, stay in shape, or are training for something else.”
It’s that family-friendly atmosphere that drew Terri Loftin in to check out the fitness center firsthand from her daily Prairie Avenue commute. “I wanted to stop by and see it,” she said. “I like it. It’s really nice. I can bring the kids in.”
For Mohney, the benefits of owning a fitness center will have dual results: as a retreat someday down the line when he decides to give up veterinary work, and as a place to try to sweat away and physically fortify those lingering aches and pains.
“This is more fun,” Mohney said about his new health club surroundings. “People here are happy, I just love being here.”