Horizon West Anytime Fitness facility doubles in size

HORIZON WEST With a new 7,000-square-foot facility, Anytime Fitness in Horizon West is now well-equipped to fuel its members’ focus on fitness.

Even better news is that the increase in space is significant, but the move distance itself was not. Anytime Fitness stayed put in Lakeside Village, but the old location was getting too cramped for the growing demand in the area. The new location is an outparcel behind the Publix, double the size of the previous gym.

“We ran out of space over there; we ran out of parking, and the demand in the area has been great,” said Clay Harris, owner of the Horizon West location “It just came time to start looking for more space.”

Aug. 10 would have been the four-year anniversary of the gym in the previous location. But on July 29, Harris shut down the gym at 9 a.m. for the move to begin. The gym was open again the next day.

The new location boasts an all-new functional-training floor area, as well as an area of open space where people can use battle ropes, exercise balls, weights and more to create their own workouts. The gym also has new equipment and a revamped free-weight area and will be rolling out new fitness classes within the next few months.

Harris’s foray into the fitness arena began seven years ago. He used to own UPS stores until he ended up selling them after realizing retail was not for him. Following that, he had a lot of free time and began focusing on himself.

“I wasn’t working out; I was sluggish and didn’t like the way I looked or felt,” he said. “I hired a personal trainer and worked with them for about six months and saw great results. Something just kind of clicked. … I’ve been living in this area for a while and said, ‘Why is there no gym around here?’”

He began researching smaller fitness clubs because he wanted something more personal. And with his background in store management, he looked into franchises and came across Anytime Fitness. 

“With a lot of gyms you have thousands of members, and I didn’t want to just open a gym and sell memberships,” he said. “I wanted to work on a club culture and get to know all the members and help them reach their fitness goals. I can’t service 5,000, members but I can help 800 to 900 pretty easily. Everybody has to find what’s right for them. We offer that smaller, more intimate gym experience.”

Anytime Fitness is located at 10665 Village Lake Road, Suite 100, Windermere. For more information, call (407) 217-6496 or visit bit.ly/2aV3j5f or facebook.com/Anytimefitnesswindermere.

Contact Danielle Hendrix at [email protected].