Crunch Bowery opened for business yesterday … and they are apparently making a funny with the "there goes the neighborhood" line …
The Crunch around the corner on Lafayette will close soon … because! As BoweryBoogie reported on May 16, 708 Broadway/404 Lafayette is being converted into a — ding! ding! — hotel!
Previously on EV Grieve:
Crunch moving to the Bowery; CB3 OKs New York Sports Club on Avenue A
$169.99 enrollment fee?!! BLOW ME.
ReplyDelete$92.99 a month is slightly more than New York Sports Club's $89 a month thus a normal price for a major Manhattan gym chain (I guess) but that enrollment fee is ridiculous.
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The neighborhood went a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteWow, some douchebag in advertising must be really proud of himself for this one.
ReplyDeleteThe $169.00 enrollment fee is indeed ridiculous, but it pales in comparison to David Barton, which charges $400 as an enrollment fee, and Equinox which charge at least $500 for enrollment, not mentioning an upwards of $160 for monthly fees. The Bowery no longer has character, edge or creativity. It illustrates the homogeny, greed, and conformist nature of corporate, republican, propaganda, and utter bullshit. The neighborhood is shit. Crunch sucks anyway. It feels like the interior designer put the place together on crack, pot, and beer. Barf. Go away Crunch.
ReplyDeleteoh..ha ha. Isn't that so clever.
ReplyDeleteWink-wink, nudge-nudge. All of these people bitching about how the neighborhood is becoming overpriced are such haters. After all we know better because look how much nicer it is. Old people are sooo cranky.
$400 and $500 huh? Ridiculous. What's with an "enrollment fee"? When I joined Planet Fitness there was no enrollment fee. I was given just a Planet Fitness tee and membership card. So why does it cost $170, $400, and $500 to receive the same at the other places?
ReplyDeleteIf anything it tells me these places are only after your money and don't stand by their product. I mean if you pay $500 to join Equinox then another $160 per month to them, your first month of membership is essentially a whopping $660. They're basically locking you into a year with them because if you cancel after only four months, that's $500 to join + $640 = $1140 for only 4 months, an average of $285 per month.
I must say that while Planet Fitness is at the other end of the spectrum cost-wise - I joined them for only $99 for the year (an average $8.25 per month!), no enrollment or processing fees, they totally, utterly suck unless you like to bike and treadmill.
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I stopped by to try it out today. It's almost as large as the Lafayette gym, but a bit more cramped due to the layout. The biggest problem is that the entire floor is covered with bouncy rubber, making the treadmills shake when you use them - who approved that decision?
ReplyDeleteI pay $89 a month for access to all the NYC crunch gyms. The Lafayette crowd skews towards 20s/30s people that are serious about working out, hopefully this replacement will be similar.
I've belonged to the Lafayette Crunch for about 8 years, and loved it: the high ceilinged ground floor, the stretching area tucked away on the second level, the industrial vibe. I have a terrible feeling I'm going to hate this one...
ReplyDeleteTheir goes the neighborhood, and their goes the cool factor Crunch used to have. I remember working out next to random rock stars at Layfette, which I believe was their flagship. Now I get the thrill of working out next to some bimbette reading UsWeekly, in a space that could easily be a Walgreens.
ReplyDeleteThat's worse than having no more juice bar or sauna. And my fee is the same why?
Thanks for the memories Crunch. It was a fun 10 years.
There is always Dolphin Fitness
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