Responding To Fitness Fans' Needs, Gym Tech Opens In Southampton Village

Last year’s shutdown sent fitness aficionados scrambling for at-home solutions, and they scrambled toward Salvatore Strazerri’s Gym Tech for treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, and even specialized flooring.

This month, the company expanded operations from parts west to the East End, opening a retail outlet on Hill Street in Southampton Village. The move made sense, with a demand for services in the last year heavy in the Hamptons, and the community underserved, according to Gym Tech’s founder, who was born and raised in Nassau County. “I felt like we would be able to offer a better customer experience,” he said, making note of the sole competitor’s faults.

Originally a company designed to offer sales and service of equipment commercially, Gym Tech’s future looked less than rosy last year when the gyms they serviced were forced to shut down due to the pandemic. It didn’t take long for Mr. Strazerri to shift focus to residential sales and now, he’s finding that local, well-heeled customers are asking him to design gyms for their homes.

“If they don’t already have a room for a gym, now people, especially in the Hamptons, they’re adding a wing or an addition to their home, just to build a gym,” he said, “and they want mirrors, flooring, our interlocking flooring, all of the equipment. They want us to come in and actually build their whole gym.”

Mr. Strazerri’s career trajectory pointed in a different direction when he began Gym Tech. A student at Queen’s College, in 2003 he was working toward a master’s degree with the hope of becoming a high school history teacher. The budding businessman worked a side gig, helping a friend who had a fitness equipment resale business selling used and refurbished gear.

“During one of the local deliveries to a gym in Rockaway, Queens, the owner suggested we open a service company due to the horrendous service being offered in our region,” Mr. Strazerri explained.

His youth made it a challenge to convince potential customers that a 22-year-old could solve their service problems, but after a time, his business began to gain traction, and in 2004 Gym Tech Fitness Service was formed.

Thanks to a commitment to rapid response time, Gym Tech became the primary service provider for such equipment lines as Star Trac, Stairmaster, Schwinn, and Nautilus, he said. The firm is also the exclusive dealer for the high end, sought after Precor equipment line, he said.

Looking out beyond the gym industry, Mr. Strazerri next focused on becoming the go-to provider for corporate fitness centers, universities, high schools, senior care facilities and hospitals.

With an eye on further expansion, Mr. Strazerri began to think about opening up retail venues. He planned to open a store in Woodbury in the beginning of last year. But before the leases could be signed, the pandemic shut everything down.

“We were basically shut down for a few months, then luckily the residential market carried us through,” he said, affirming that over time, the residential fitness equipment industry began to flourish. Aware that the shutdown would mean even more people would want to buy fitness equipment for their homes, the firm founder opened the store upisland last November.

“We made a conscious decision to pivot towards the residential market,” Mr. Strazerri said. “We were already looking at opening retail stores before the pandemic, it just sped everything up.”

The Southampton store followed the first outlet in April, with others planned for New York, New Jersey, and Greenwich, Connecticut.

As for the local branch? “I love that store,” Mr. Strazerri enthused this week. A Manhattan resident currently, he said he’s already looking to buy real estate in Southampton.