SALISBURY – In 20 years, Powerhouse Gym has transformed into the area’s leading health club for fitness, nutrition and services, but it’s the next 20 years that excite the gym’s operators.
Powerhouse Gym, with locations in West Ocean City, Salisbury and Seaford, is celebrating its 20th year of operation.
Owner Tony Taghipour said Powerhouse Gym has come a long way since the first location in West Ocean City opened in October of 1997.
When he first purchased Powerhouse Gym, Taghipour said the club had nearly 120 members and few amenities.
“When I bought it in 1997, it was just a men-only gym with no locker rooms, no classes, no childcare,” he said. “The intention was to make it a larger family health club.”
Shortly after purchasing the gym, Taghipour said the space underwent a complete renovation to add space for classes, childcare, women’s locker rooms and tanning rooms.
“In October of 1997, we bought that club with 120 members and by the end of 1998 we had about 1,200 members, a majority of them females and children,” he said. “We changed the pattern of how that club operated. That was the beginning of a very beautiful, successful thing.”
By 1999, Powerhouse Gym expanded to a second location in the Salisbury Plaza in Salisbury. A third location in Seaford opened in 2003.
Today, Powerhouse Gym’s three locations boast nearly 10,000 members, 200 employees and several amenities.
In addition to fitness programs, state-of-the-art gym equipment and childcare, Taghipour said Powerhouse Gym also offers highly qualified nutritionists and personal trainers, a fresh juice bar and other unique services.
“We are one of the most diversified health clubs, I would think, in the nation,” he said.
Taghipour attributes the business’s success to Powerhouse Gym staff, Fitness Coordinator Jess Brown and his son, Nick Taghipour, who will lead the gym into its next 20 years and beyond.
“I’m passing the torch to him and he’s taking it to the next level already,” he said.
Taghipour said his son has run the business since mid-2014 and has introduced new services and equipment that will accommodate all Powerhouse Gym members.
“He’s pretty much in tune with what a health club needs in order to give that diversity to anyone that walks in here, from the lady who is pregnant to the body builder,” he said. “They all have ample amount of exercise equipment and services available to them to call this place their own health club. That’s what makes it so unique and different.”
Nick Taghipour said his goal to expand the gym’s locations and services will offer a better experience for members.
“We are trying to bring a higher level of fitness that the shore hasn’t seen and change the dynamic of how health clubs are run on the shore …,” he said. “Usually it takes a couple of years before anything really trends down through the shore. We are trying to get ahead of the curve and change that.”
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Powerhouse Gym will be offering membership and personal training specials as well as a drawing to win a free membership. More information can be found on any of the three Powerhouse Gym Facebook pages.
