October 2015 Cover Story Preview: Wareing’s Gym… The Oldest Health Club in America
Posted: October 14, 2015 in Other News
John Wareing Statue
During all of my travels across America, visiting literally thousands of clubs, I’ve never come across a situation like this one, in which the late John Wareing, Founder of Wareing’s Gym, has been memorialized with a beautiful monument that was created and installed by members of his Virginia Beach, Virginia community in memory of Wareing.
John Wareing was a war hero, a Virginia Beach police officer and trainer, a strong man, a friend and confidant, a fitness guru and a comic… John Wareing was a man who changed the lives of thousands of Virginia Beach, Virginia citizens for the better, and he was memorialized with a larger than life statue on the beach at 17th Street and Boardwalk. He was also known as the unofficial strongest man in the Navy.
He also left a culture in his Wareing’s Gym that caused him and his gym to be trusted by his community. Once you have read the commentary from Mike, Tony and Jake Wareing, it will be clear why that trust in their gym continues until this day.
If you’re one of our long-time Club Insider readers, you may remember that we have repeatedly written about the importance of building “TRUST” in your community and with all of your customers. In fact, in August, 2009, I wrote a Club Insider Cover Story on this extremely important subject and entitled it: “TRUST.” If you’ve been in this wonderful industry for a long time, you could probably write your own cover story with what you know about the topic of building TRUST and lasting RELATIONSHIPS with the citizens of your community.
Without even reviewing my past writings on the subject of building TRUST in the community, I could not help but be reminded about the subject as I conducted the following interview with Mike, Tony and Jake Wareing, the owners and operators of this unique health club. These men continue their lifetimes of self employment at Wareing’s Gym by employing a finely-tuned and well-executed focus on building and maintaining trust and relationships with their customers… yes… TRUST with their members and guests.
A good reputation is something that’s not easy to earn in any realm. And, if your club doesn’t have a good reputation in your community, you still have a lot of work to do before you will be able to make your club as great as you hope it will be!
IF your club already has a good reputation in your community… And, IF you ever lose it, it’s even more difficult to regain it. Maintaining trust with people in your community is something that’s not easy to do. To maintain a good reputation, a business owner/operator must do the right things for the right reasons over and over while at the same time coping with the trials and tribulations of a 7-day-a-week and almost 365-day-a-year operation in a business climate that’s getting more over supplied every day of the year.
The story of Wareing’s Gym, the oldest health club in America is one of caring and producing results for members in such an excellent manner that the place has achieved the status of truly being an “Institution” in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and after this story, beyond.
Read all about it in the upcoming October 2015 Edition of Club Insider!
