Popular gym coming to Central Valley with locations in Stanislaus, Merced counties
Crunch Fitness has announced it will make its Central Valley debut with two gyms set to open in the next few months.
The new gyms will be in Ceres and Merced. Though no official date has been announced, the Ceres location is on track to open in February, according to Julian Aguirre, redevelopment and economic development manager for the city of Ceres.
The Ceres gym will be at 1611 E. Hatch Road in a building previously occupied by Big Lots and next to Grocery Outlet. According to the Crunch Ceres Instagram page, the gym will have state-of-the-art equipment, including Olympic platform weightlifting stations and a high-intensity interval training area, in addition to group fitness classes.
In Merced, the new location is listed as opening in winter 2025, with no official date of opening announced. It will be at 665 Fairfield Drive, which also previously was a Big Lots. There will be a Founder’s Day event Nov. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to give potential members a sneak preview of the gym.
This will be the first presence of the brand in Stanislaus and Merced counties. The closest current location is in Tracy, which just opened in August.
The first Crunch gym opened in 1989 in New York’s Greenwich Village with a philosophy built on inclusivity and “no judgments.”
Both locations are accepting sign-ups to lock in founding member rates once they open. Memberships start at $9.99 and go up depending on amenities and programs included in the package.
For more information about how to sign up, or updates, visit www.crunch.com. To contact the Ceres location, call 209-560-7550. For the Merced location, call 209-887-5755.
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 10:42 AM.
