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Earlier this week, the Outpost heard a little rumor that local fitness chain HealthSPORT has plans to close its By The Bay location in Old Town Eureka. We quickly launched an investigation into the matter and discovered that HealthSPORT is not closing By The Bay, per se, it’s just moving all operations and equipment at that gym over to its Eureka location on Pennsylvania Avenue in Myrtletown.

Reached by phone this morning, HealthSPORT Marketing Director Courtney Haraldson took great pains to avoid saying By The Bay is “closing,” insisting instead that HealthSPORT is simply “relocating” and “consolidating” Eureka’s gym offerings.

“The building will no longer be something that we’re renting, but the word ‘closing’ isn’t really true because By The Bay is just moving to [the Myrtle Avenue location in] Eureka,” Haraldson said. “It’s no longer a space that we need. It doesn’t serve us for the programs that we need to offer.”

Asked if HealthSPORT’s decision to consolidate gym services was in response to dwindling attendance at its Old Town location, Haraldson said “that’s not really what we’re looking at,” adding that By The Bay was “designed for small group classes.” 

“A lot of the people that come to work out at By The Bay do so because they work down [in Old Town] or it’s closer for them, but all of our members that we’ve really talked to are excited about moving it to one spot,” Haraldson said.

Over the coming months, HealthSPORT plans to expand services and classes at its Myrtletown location and include more family-oriented activities.

“We want to focus more on families and our families [live] out that way,” Haraldson said. “We’re currently renovating our pool [at the] Myrtle [location], but our family swims are really popular there and we’re hoping to expand on that. We’re also looking forward to more youth birthday parties and field trips. … It’s more of a communal vibe. We also have a very large parking lot there and plan to host food trucks or other little community events. We want to create a space for people to spend more time together.”

HealthSPORT will close relocate By The Bay at the end of December, though some pilates classes may continue at the Old Town location through January while the new space is getting set up. HealthSPORT’s program schedule can be found here.

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