Medford Native Returns Home For New Business

MEDFORD, MA – Steve Stabile has made a living as an entrepreneur for nearly 30 years. But the Medford native, who started franchising in 2005 with Fitness Together and Elements Massage, never strayed far from home.

"If you grow up in Medford, you realize you can never leave it," Stabile told Patch. His latest venture, Blink Fitness at 465 Salem St., brings him just five blocks away from his childhood home. It's Stabile's fourth time looking to his roots to open a business – he ran the Medford Phonebook from 1990-2004 and Fitness Together from 2007-2010 and helped open Elements Massage on High Street.

Now he's taking over the former home of MG Fitness in the same plaza where he went shopping with his family on Sundays as a kid. Did he imagine returning to his old stomping grounds as a business owner?

"Never in a million years," he told Patch.

Stabile said he wanted to work with Blink Fitness because of the company's philosophy of "mood above muscle." The company focuses on how exercise makes you feel versus how it makes you look, which he said resonated with him as someone who has struggled with weight for years.

Since its inception in 2011, Blink has opened more than 70 gyms in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California. Its Medford location has been renovated to include new floors, locker rooms and fitness equipment and improved heating and air conditioning systems.

And Stabile's not stopping there. He plans to open six more gyms in the greater Boston area in the coming years, Blink Fitness announced in May.

Stabile said Blink Fitness in Medford is expected to open this winter.

Photo submitted by Steve Stabile