A Village Gym Closes, Moves

After eight years, , which began as Family Gym, has closed up shop. The owners are moving to a new location in San Diego's East Village, at the corner of 17th Street and Imperial Avenue.

Joe and Ethyanne Ochoa decided to merge with Family Gym, which also has a facility in Chula Vista on Main Street. Current members can use either gym.

“We just didn’t have the volume to offer $20 and $30 a month memberships,” said Reed Holman, a trainer at the gym and Ethyanne Ochoa’s son.

“If we had 2000 or even 1000 people we might have been able to swing it,” he said.

The decision appeared to be sudden. The doors were locked on Tuesday and by Wednesday afternoon the facility was stripped of equipment and furnishings. Members were not officailly notifed.

Most learned of the closing when they came to work out.

The Ochoas spent thousands of dollars upgrading the gym with new equipment, though Holman wouldn’t give an exact figure. All the equipment has been moved to the new gym in East Village.

To cover the expense, the gym was forced to raise monthly fees to $49 per month, but the owners found that people in Coronado did want to pay it or could not afford it. 

Hollywood Fitness members can transfer to Family Gym and will not be charged until March. After that they’ll pay $9.95 a month for membership.

As for employees, Holman said “anyone who had a job at Hollywood Fitness has a job at Family Gym if they want it.”

Reactions from members have been “positive for the most part,” he said. “For some people going to San Diego is no big deal. They go there all the time. For others it’s a real inconvenience.”

The Ochoas live in Coronado and have no plans to move, Holman said. “We love it here,” he said.

Hollywood Fitness received exposure outside the community last summer when Holman and others discussed Zahau died under mysterious circumstances in July at Shacknai's Ocean Boulevard mansion.

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