ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Those looking for a new option when it comes to fitness on the south side of Liberal now have just that.

Last week saw the ribbon-cutting and grand opening of Alpha Fitness at 1010 S. Kansas Ave. Owner Yesenia Fonseca said the idea for the facility has been percolating for a while.

“My husband, Michael, and I met at the gym, and we've always loved working out and being healthy and all of that. Michael's always talked about wanting his own business, which I've always been very supportive of, and this opportunity eventually came our way, and we had to take it. We were able to buy out a full gym in Aurora, Colo., and we've been able to bring it to Liberal,” Fonseca said. “I feel like nearly everyone has that dream of opening their own business. I've also been a hairdresser for nearly 20 years, and that industry has been good to me in terms of a great clientele and experiences. I had all of those people skills already, and there were multiple times I told Michael 'If we have a gym, we can square away some space for a salon' with the idea being I could do the salon a couple days a week while helping managing the gym. I feel like it's very important for business owners to actually be involved in their business and not just open it up and then leave everything to everyone else.”

Eventually, everything fell into place for that dream to become reality.

“We'd visited the bank and making plans for where we wanted to have everything, and then when we were looking for a spot, we came to the space at 1010 S. Kansas Ave. and ended up falling in love with the space,” Fonseca said. “Everything fell into place perfectly basically within the span of a week, and we couldn't have been more grateful for that since there was a lot of work and stress and sleepless nights involved in getting everything started. We had to move on everything very, very quickly, and that's why we were working so fast and furious, because we'd built up some buzz online and had a bunch of people asking when we were officially going to open, and we didn't want to lose that momentum.”

Fonseca said she hopes to have a large membership for the facility.

“The gym has great vibes, and it's a nice, clean space with lots of equipment to choose from for whatever workout you're doing. If you come in for a workout, you're not going to be standing around too much wondering what you'll do next. We want people to be able to get a great workout in,” Fonseca said. “People can visit the Alpha Fitness page on Facebook, or they can visit our Web site, which is SITE, and that's where they can set up their membership. We did have a Founding Membership for the first 100 sign-ups, which was $29.99 per month for life with no contract, which got a really big response. I'm excited all the hard work getting started is past us, there was a lot we had to do. I'm glad we got everything in place, and I'm happy to see so many people are excited about what we're offering. Now, we can concentrate on growing and maybe making some expansions in the future. We loved this space because the size was great, the parking lot area is wonderful for what we need, and there had been some remodeling done, so it was really just meant to be.”

Overall, Fonseca said, she is looking forward to the gym being a big part of the community.

“There is a salon here in the space, which is a great bonus, and I love how we're in an area where there's a lot of traffic, so I think we'll end up staying pretty busy,” Fonseca said. “We plan on adding sauna spaces in the near future, that's something we've been asked about a lot, and we also have some plans for classes like pilates and spinning and things like that. Anyone wanting updates about all of that can follow us on our social media, we'll definitely have a lot to share there!”