TG THE STORY & HISTORY
Lets Travel back to a time when American bodybuilding was at the beginning stages of a global revolution. In early 1983 George Jackson met Pete Grymkowski, Ed Connors and Tim Kimber through his employers at the time-KPMG KPMG International - KPMG Global (the world's largest accounting firm). George became part owner of Gold's Gym Reseda and Gold's Gym Walnut Creek.
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By 1984 George Jackson resigned from KPMG and started working as an consultant and then CFO for Golds Gym international, from 1984-1988 the Golds Gym brand grew from 60 locations to 280 locations, George Jackson was extremely fortunate to Team up with BodyBuilding Champion Rick Stephenson to purchase a failed Golds Gym in San Diego CA, which happened to be one of the original three GG licensed locations.
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George resigned from GG in 1988 to focus on building more gyms. By 1992 Rick And George moved around the corner to the newly purchased 2949 Garnet Ave San Diego, CA.
In 1998 we became World Gym when Pete Grymkowski, Ed Connors and Tim Kimber sold Gold's Gym international to a investment firm, the firm immediately sent us a new agreement which was extremely corporate, we're anti corporate here. We're gym rats running a business and taking care of our clientele and we don't appreciate anyone telling us where to hang our clocks or where to buy our equipment from, So we drove up to Marina Del Rey to meet with Joe Gold who was still alive at the time,he founded World Gym after selling Golds Gym International.
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Joe Gold was happy to have us as part of the World Gym family. He was familiar with our gym and knew we had a great reputation, Joe wanted the World Gym name on our building and let us have anything we wanted so we jumped ship from Gold's Gym and Joe Gold took us on.
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One of the last things I said when leaving Joe Gold's office was, "Joe, you don't have any plans to sell?, correct?"
He said, "Absolutely not."
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Well, Joe Gold passed away and they ended up selling World Gym. Needless to say that put us in the same position we were at in 1998, Another corporate contract filled with corporate rules and regulations.
- Rick Stephenson
Our roots and foundation are grounded in two of the most famous brands in the world of serious fitness – Gold’s Gym and World Gym. The community vibe that was created then is the same feel we work to create in our gyms every day. The success of brand is focused on serving our community of serious lifters, having excellent old and new school equipment that is well maintained and a welcoming environment that starts at the front desk and continues throughout the gym.