Customers of the Main Street Gym in Hellertown are noticing some major changes taking place. Owner Kevin Branco is in the midst of interior renovations that are transforming the facility into a more modern fitness center, with more cardio equipment, more strength equipment, new flatscreen TVs, new rubber floors, free tanning and other improvements.
![A long narrow hall lined with tanning booths has been removed, opening up the front room at the Main Street Gym in Hellertown.](https://sauconsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/10806248_814550811935588_4498349527389865178_n-336x2521.jpg)
A long narrow hall lined with tanning booths has been removed, opening up the front room at the Main Street Gym in Hellertown.
A long, narrow hallway lined with tanning booths has been removed along one wall–opening up the gym’s front room–and cosmetic changes are being made all throughout the building that will give the gym a more modern, industrial vibe.
The gym’s office has also been converted into a private tanning room with the gym’s logo painted on one wall.
During a recent tour, Branco pointed out many of the changes under way, and said he feels they will help him to better serve his nearly 400 customers, many of whom live and work in the Saucon Valley and love the convenience of a gym in the center of town.
Branco called the transformation an “overall facelift” for the gym; a business he’s owned since 2011.
![Main Street Gym owner Kevin Branco's former office is now a private tanning room, which features the gym's logo on one wall.](https://sauconsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/10351583_820487261341943_2467454084814726168_n-336x4481.jpg)
Main Street Gym owner Kevin Branco’s former office is now a private tanning room, which features the gym’s logo on one wall.
Once the major work is completed, he said he plans to host a party for members and guests to help celebrate the changes.
That will most likely be sometime in February.
Party highlights will include a raffle for a bike donated by Saucon Valley Bikes of Hellertown, as well as other prizes such as gift certificates.
“I plan on doing that yearly,” Branco said of the party, adding that it’s another way for him to thank his members for their loyal support.
“It’s how I run the business. I run it like a community center,” he explained.
This personal approach to fitness helped him win the Morning Call’s 2014 Readers’ Choice Award for personal training.
![Rubber flooring which will be more sanitary is installed at the Main Street Gym in Hellertown.](https://sauconsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/10422542_814550815268921_5056133769195745975_n-336x2521.jpg)
Rubber flooring–which will be more sanitary than carpeting–is installed at the Main Street Gym in Hellertown.
“That’s an advertisement you can’t buy,” said Branco, who has more than 3,000 hours of training experience and is a certified personal trainer through the National Council on Strength and Fitness.
Branco stressed that Main Street Gym is a welcoming facility for people from all walks of life, and said he’s made changes to keep it that way.
“It’s not a meathead gym or a macho gym and that shows by my membership roles,” he said. “About 44 percent of my membership is female.”
He added that many of his female members are over 60, and two-thirds of his personal training clients are female.
More state-of-the-art cardio equipment and additional fitness classes will help him continue to attract female members in the future, he predicted.
For more information about the Main Street Gym and Branco–a former Saucon Valley football standout and Kutztown University grad–visit the gym’s website and Facebook page, or call 610-838-2640.
![A new custom metal sign was recently installed outside the Main Street Gym in Hellertown.](https://sauconsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/10857882_811961095527893_8347696421431274146_n-771x5781.jpg)
A new custom metal sign based upon the gym’s logo was recently installed outside the Main Street Gym in Hellertown.