24-hour Gym to Open in Manassas Park Next Month

Roger Yelvington is ready to pour his heart and soul into another Manassas Park business.

He already owns the successful SunBright Tanning Salon in the Manassas Park Plaza at Andrew and Manassas Drives. The 28-year-old recently rented another space in the same retail building to open an Anytime Fitness location. 

 “I said to myself, ‘Why don’t you just open a 24-hour fitness center right next door?’” Yelvington said. “You’ve got all the businesses that people are already going to there; they can just make working out a part of their day.”

 A gym attracts the same clientele as his tanning salon, so it’s a good match, he said.

He has more than a thousand tanning salon clients on his text messaging list and he plans on sending them a text alert, offering them a discounted membership to Anytime Fitness.

 “I love working with this franchise,” Yelvington said of Anytime Fitness. “It’s the mentality that I love. It’s a gym that’s not intimidating, it’s not some big, industrial warehouse-like gym or a meathead gym or a gym where women put on lipstick just to get on the treadmill.”

 The manager’s office is connected to the main lobby where guest enter, so he or she will be able to invite guests in as they arrive. There will also be an inspiration chalkboard where members can write encouraging words and support each other, he said.

 The facility will be staffed from 10 a.m. until about 8 p.m;. after that, members can use their key fobs to open the door themselves, go in and workout. The facility is available every single day out of the year.

The fobs can also be used to track workout progress online. Progress can be monitored by a personal trainer, if a member has one, he said.

The facility also has private showers and reserved parking spaces.

Furthermore, members of the Manassas Park location can workout at any of the hundreds of Anytime Fitness locations in the U.S.

Anytime Fitness is slated to open in late January, but has already started  pre-selling memberships. The first people to join will receive special t-shirts, with the phrase, “Founding Member” printed on the back in Old English script, Yelvington said.

“I’m investing in people,” Yelvington said. “My passion is behind creating; I like to see people enjoy the work I put in.”

 The young businessman ran SunBright Tanning while he worked as a branch manager for TD Bank.

Yelvington said he left the bank this year after almost nine years in the banking industry.

“I didn’t want the gym to be my red-headed stepchild, so to speak,” he said. “I didn’t want to do it part time anymore. I’m 28 years old, without a wife or kids so I don’t mind working many hours to provide a great service.  These projects are my passion; I’ve always had an interest in investing in businesses. When I was 22 I invested in my first meaningful venture; it was a little premature and was a lot to take on, but I learned from it.”

 So far he’s poured countless work hours into preparing for the gym's opening.

Anytime Fitness takes up a combined three retail spaces in Manassas Park Plaza, so a small market, Mexican restaurant, and dry cleaners in the shopping center moved down to allow space for the gym to be renovated and built.  The plaza is now at 100 percent capacity, he said.

 “It’s a lot of work, but people can do it the wrong way and not do a lot of work, or, they can do it the right way and care about the end results,” he said. “If people support this business, it will grow. I feel that Manassas Park wants to be this quaint, really cool place that's growing. I want to help the community come together. There is already a sense of pride that continues to build.”

Call Anytime Fitness at 703.659.1333 for more information.