Gyms struggled during the pandemic, but things are finally looking better for Glen Cove Fitness. After a challenging year, the gym celebrated its 20th anniversary on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Members of the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Business Improvement District and local elected officials congratulated gym owner Alvin Batista on this milestone, especially after a particularly difficult year.
“It is very exciting to see a company exist and make it through in Glen Cove,” said Mayor Tim Tenke, “especially after a tough year hit hard by Covid.”
Tenke presented Batista with a congratulatory certificate on behalf of the city with the words: “You survived the pandemic and seem to be going in the right direction.”
Batista was also quoted by Senator Jim Gaughran, Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, and officials from the offices of US Representative Tom Suozzi and District Manager Laura Curran. “Thank you for bringing 20 years of good health to the Glen Cove community,” said DeRiggi-Whitton.
Patricia Holman, executive director of the downtown BID, said Batista, the organization’s president, was an asset to her when the companies closed last year and helped stand up for them. “While I’m certainly thrilled that Glen Cove Fitness made it out of the pandemic,” said Holman, “with Alvin’s business acumen, I was always confident that he would survive.”
The 60-year-old Batista bought the building in the autumn of 2000 at 44 School St., at that time an electronics warehouse. It took about five months to renovate the room before he could move in. He previously had a private education facility down the street, and wanted to buy an apartment first before learning that the larger space was for sale. When he bought the building, he was able to expand his business and start Glen Cove Health and Fitness, which opened on April 5, 2001.
The gym had a sales office, aerobics room, juice bar, and childcare room. In July 2005, Batista decided to become a Planet Fitness franchisee – the first in Long Island – and had to reconfigure the gym and its offerings to focus solely on strength training and cardiovascular training. Ultimately, that didn’t work out and he left Planet Fitness in December 2017 and renamed himself Glen Cove Fitness.
“I learned a lot from them,” he said of Planet Fitness, adding that he simply has a different vision for his business.
The gym now works with dumbbells, weight machines and cardiovascular equipment, as it has since 2005.
However, in March of last year everything changed. “It was a bit of a surprise when we found out about the shutdown when everyone else did,” recalled Batista. “We had no advance notice. At first we thought it would only be a couple of weeks and then it went on for months and there was no end in sight. “
The gym was closed from mid-March to August 24th. Batista said he and other members of the New York Fitness Coalition spent a lot of time lobbying Governor Andrew Cuomo for the reopening. He said he also spent the time preparing the gym for the return of its members and improving safety – painting, upgrading the HVAC system, retrofitting lights, and adding ceiling fans.
Masks and social distancing are now required, and extra precautions are taken to keep members safe. Half of the cardio machines are taken out of service alternately every day in order to save space and avoid excessive wear and tear on the machines. The gym bought two electrostatic sprayers and the entire facility is sprayed every two hours.
“I think it makes people feel better,” Batista said.
While it was great to have members back, the gym is still 33 percent busy, which means only 42 people can work out at a time. It has about 2,800 members, and on the busiest days, Batista said, about 500 people come in. Due to the limited capacity, members are checked in and out so employees know how many there are at the same time and how long they have been there. In general, he said, they expect people to stay for about an hour. “It’s difficult at busy times of the day,” he said.
From April 5th, the gym was again allowed to be open around the clock. “It’s been a tough year but it looks like it’s going to end,” said Batista.
Around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday afternoon, about a dozen people were exercising, including Roni Jenkins of Glen Cove, who said she was a member a few years ago and rejoined last December. “When it was safe to come back in, I felt like this very place does a great job of social distancing and machine cleaning,” Jenkins said. “I feel very, very safe here.”
Glen Cove Fitness starts this weekend with the free fitness offer of Downtown BID in Village Square and offers a class on Saturday at 10 a.m. in 100 Village Square. Mats, masks, and social distancing are required.
