NY-based fitness chain Blink opening four Philly-area locations

New York-based health club chain Blink Fitness is expanding into the Philadelphia region, with four area gyms scheduled to open over the next year and more being planned, the company said in a release this week.

"With dense neighborhoods, varied transit options and suburbs close by, Philadelphia shares many qualities with Blink's home turf in New York," Blink president Todd Magazine said in an email. "That's why we identified it as a prime marketplace for expansion."

The chain plans to open clubs this spring at the former Club Metro fitness center location in South Philadelphia's Whitman Plaza near Third Street and Oregon Avenue; at Shelly Plaza near Frankford Avenue and Academy Road in the Northeast; and near John F. Kennedy Way and Beverly Road in Willingboro, N.J.

Another Northeast Philadelphia location is scheduled to open early next year at the Shoppes at Wissinoming shopping center at Harbison Avenue and Tulip Street.