MALONE — DefCon Fitness, 438 E. Main St., held a soft opening Thursday morning.
In the heart of downtown Malone, the fitness is center is in the former Ashley Furniture Homestore on the corner of East Main and Catherine streets. Owners Sasha Lazore and Bradley Mulverhill are waiting for more exercise equipment to arrive before announcing a grand opening.
Lazore and Mulverhill finalized the software end of the business on June 1, which will allow people to visit the center and establish their memberships.
“It was an interesting process getting this business together because we were in the process of COVID-19 and everything was delayed,” Mulverhill said.
“With COVID-19, there were so many other facilities in New York that were shutting down and getting rid of their equipment. There was a lot of uncertainty,” Lazore said. “On top of that, getting lawyers and buying the building, the whole process took its time. We are still waiting on equipment for upstairs to arrive. There are also certain other things we want for amenities in this for facility are wait listed until the end of the year even.”
As stated on the business’s Facebook page, the hours during the soft opening phase are not the standard hours. Standard hours will be 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day with the possibility of being open for 24 hours if interest grows.
“There has been a good amount of community support for us,” Lazore said. “Before we were even close to coming towards the end, village Mayor Andrea Dumas contacted and she helped us out with where to go, who to contact, and it helped with the word of mouth with her. The word spread quickly about us getting a gym together and she helped us a lot with that.”
The center has two different levels, with the bottom level used for free weights and an assortment of exercise machines and the upper level offering cardio machines.
The owners of DefCon Fitness ask visitors to park their vehicles at the upper tier of the laundromat in the event that parking along Main Street is at capacity, as the lot’s lower tier is for International Border Company customers. The fitness center is working on getting its own parking.
The owners also clarified on the business’s Facebook page that not all memberships will be available online.
Aside from a $10 day pass for those interested in trying out the center, membership prices available online are $40 per month, $100 for three months and $390 for 12 months.
Those who are looking for a discounted price due to certain employment such as military, law enforcement, first responders, nurses, hospital staff and doctors along with senior citizen or family discounts would need to make an in-person purchase at the center.
The owners also hope to offer classes like Zumba and cross-body exercise. A women’s workout class in the early phases of planning.
“Those classes are what have been asked of us,” Lazore said. “As long as we can get proper people to come in an instruct, I guess the sky is the limit to what classes we can offer.”
For more information on DefCon Fitness, visit the business’s Facebook page.
