World Gym to lift May 1

By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter

	Coastal Point • RUSLANA LAMBERT Patrons of World Gym will be treated to a multitude of televisions to keep time flying by during work-out sessions.

Jim Miller said Ocean View was a perfect spot to open a second World Gym. The partner in the Ocean City gym said that, like the Maryland resort town, Ocean View is known for its easy-going nature. The people enjoy a slower lifestyle, and the small town could never be confused for a bustling city.

Although Miller said that opening a gym in a city might make him lots of money, the people from a place such as Ocean View are simply easier to be around, he noted.

“I love the resort-town area,” Miller said of Ocean City. “I’ve always equated this with the same mystique. It’s kept its quaintness. It’s kept its allure and he people up here are phenomenal.”

Miller — who will run the Ocean View World Gym — and his business partner, Pete Brooks, expect to open the doors at the Town Road gym on May 1. And local fitness buffs are already signing up. Purchasing an individual membership for the “state-of-the-art” equipped gym includes paying a one-time $125 initiation fee and a monthly cost of $38. Family members can sign up together for a lower cost.

The initiation fee for the family plan will be the same $125 but two people would only pay $60 a month. Any children added would only add $15 to that monthly payment. Senior citizens also receive a discount at the new gym. And if prospective members stop by the 67th street Bayside Ocean City, or call the Maryland gym at (410) 524-1900 to sign up before May 1, they will receive half off of the initiation cost.

Brooks said that about 100 people have already purchased memberships for the new gym and can work out in Ocean City until the Ocean View gym opens. After its opening, members can pay $7 extra a month to work out at both locations. Once it opens, the gym will remain open from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. seven days a week, allowing for everyone to pick a good time in their daily schedule to work out, Brooks said.

“Most people appreciate the work you put in. You give people a good product at a good price, and they appreciate it,” Miller said.

Miller said that the gym will combine a classy look — there are granite countertops in the Ocean View location — with superb equipment for any level of exerciser in the area.

The cardio equipment — treadmills, elliptical machines, bikes and more — will come with headphones and be surrounded by 32-inch televisions, which can be heard through the headphones if customers don’t enjoy the gym’s selection of music.

“That will make the cardio go along a lot quicker,” Brooks said.

Other TVs — there are 13 in the 6,000-square-foot gym — will line the rest of the gym, which the partners have filled with free-weight, cable crossover and circuit training equipment.

“The equipment we have coming in is extraordinary,” Miller said. “I’ve been working out for 15 or 20 years and I use every piece of equipment we have.”

“But it’s not geared just toward the professional weightlifter, he added. “It’s geared for everybody.”

From the retired couple living their dream in Ocean View to the high school senior, the gym will have something for everyone, according to the two partners.

And, judging from their attitudes about the area, Miller and Brooks will enjoy providing that resource for all of the area’s residents.

“We love the area,” Brooks said. “It’s about enjoying what you’re doing and the people make that,” Miller added. “You can always go to a big city and make buckets of money. But this is a great place to do business.”