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Snap Fitness offers friendly atmosphere, 24/7 access

BY ALISON STANTON

For years, Wiley White wanted to own his own gym. The self-described “gym rat” enjoys working out, and he and his fiancée, Dr. Darline Maitland, discussed eventually opening their own place.

The two achieved their goal this September when they bought Snap Fitness at the corner of Riggs and McQueen roads in Chandler.

“We had talked about it for a year, and then the opportunity to buy Snap Fitness presented itself, so we decided to do it,” White says.

In addition to offering a full range of weights, Snap Fitness also features cardio workout equipment like treadmills and ellipticals.

“We also offer classes to our members, like a Fit Dance program and kickboxing, and Darline teaches one called ‘Booty Bust’ that works the backside like the glutes and hamstrings,” White says.

For an additional small fee, White says members may purchase small group personal training classes with trainers, both of whom have more than 10 years of experience.

New members who sign up receive two free sessions with a personal trainer, White says. This helps to make sure they know how to use the equipment safely and properly.

“We do a fitness assessment during the first session and then we take

them through a workout in the second one. But if people have questions at any time on how to use anything, I’m always more than glad to help them,” he says.

Unlike other gyms that seem to attract people that are already in great shape, White says he and Maitland have a wide variety of members.

“We have a whole range of ages and

abilities. Since we are so close to Sun Lakes, we have a lot of snowbirds who come in, and we also have teens who are 15 and 16 years old,” White says.

They also have clients who train for fitness competitions as well as people who are trying to get back into shape.

“We see a huge range of experience as well as fitness goals. It’s really the whole gamut,” White says.

Members also do not have to wait until daytime to exercise at Snap Fitness; White says that thanks to a key card, members have 24-hour access to the gym.

“We are not staffed 24 hours a day, but they can get in any time they want. We also have a monitoring system and there are emergency buttons that they can push in case someone was to have a medical issue and need help,” he says.

White says he and Maitland are enjoying co-owning their own gym. Although they know that many people delay implementing new exercise programs until the start of a new year, he encourages people to come in now and start getting fit during the holiday season.

“I know a lot of our members, and I talk to them like they are my friends. We really have a more cozy atmosphere here, and several people have told me that they feel really comfortable coming here. We just enjoy getting to do what we love.”

Snap Fitness is located at 990 E. Riggs Rd., Suite 4, in Chandler. For more information call (480) 3694457 or visit www.snapfitness.com/ chandleraz.

Alison Stanton is a freelance writer who lives in the East Valley. She can be reached at alison@santansun.com

Microsoft opens with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis concert

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Grammy Award-winning rap duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis welcomed the new Microsoft retail store to Chandler Fashion Center in midNovember, with a rousing, hour-long concert that touched on the best parts of their debut studio album “The Heist.”

The 3,000 or so fans who showed up to the parking lot near Macy’s for the show taught the Grammy Awardwinning duo a thing or two about Arizona culture and landscape. When frontman Macklemore repeatedly used the terms “cactuses,” the crowd corrected him, yelling “cacti.” The word became a running joke throughout the set.

The audience was peppered with Microsoft goodies and concert-goers dined on free food from a handful of restaurants, including Buffalo Wild Wings.

The ﬁrst 1,500 people to the Microsoft Store on opening day received tickets to the concert. About 150 people waited in line overnight for the chance to see Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, according to Jonathan Adashek, Microsoft’s general manager of communications strategy.

The state’s third Microsoft store, the Chandler location was a logical choice for the company.

“That’s the easiest question you could ask me,” says Adashek, when asked why Chandler was chosen. “We

opened our first store ever in Scottsdale five years ago and we have a special affinity for the Valley. We’ve always wanted to come back here. Getting the right spot was key to us. Chandler is an easy decision for us to come here.”

Microsoft stores, he says, are opened on three fundamental principles: choice, value and service.

“We’ve got a great selection of products in the stores—phones, all-inones, tablets and accessories,” Adashek says. “We’re always getting new devices

and bringing a new mix of devices into the store, so we can really deliver what the community is looking for. Value…I like to think about the value that we offer on the machines that leave our stores.”

For signature edition machines, Microsoft has eliminated all the software that slows it down.

“We’ve got a super clean image,” he says. “That also allows us to make that machine so much faster. When you buy a car, you want to go 25 miles on the

gallon, not 22 because they put all this stuff on it to slow down.”

All of the machines purchased at the store have free antivirus programs. The answers desk provides stellar service, he says.

“Bring in (the machine) and we’re going to help you ﬁx it,” he says. “We’re going to try to do it for free. If you break your screen or need a motherboard, there’s going to be some costs for that.

“But if you get a virus on your computer, a lot of places will charge $100 or $200. We’ll get rid of it for free.”

To celebrate the opening, Microsoft is offering several deals. For a complete list, visit www.microsoft.com/en-us/ store/locations/az/chandler/chandlerfashion-center/store-1071.

During the opening, Microsoft gave away $1.9 million in software and technology grants to the Arizona Science Center, Southwest Human Development and Crisis Nursery.

According to Adashek, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have played two to three shows for Microsoft.

“We don’t do these concerts a lot, and we don’t do a lot with those guys,” he says. “But we’re big fans of theirs and they’re big fans of ours.”

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski is the executive editor of the SanTan Sun News. She can be reached at christina@ santansun.com.

POPPIN’ TAGS: Grammy Award-winning rap duo Macklemore, pictured above, and Ryan Lewis performed to welcome the new Microsoft retail store to Chandler Fashion Center. 123RF.com

Gated Villas at Ocotillo, Chandler

Bravo Business Center

Doing Business Subaru names Chandler schools as local charity of choice

Owner: Dustin and Theresa Dobson, Matthew and Hallie Richardson

How long in business: Two months

Specialty: Executive suites, virtual ofﬁce services, meeting rooms and small business services.

Unique feature: Locally owned and operated, Bravo Business Center provides everything needed to boost professionalism, efﬁciency and credibility of a home-based, remote or small business.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday Address: 2705 S. Alma School Rd., Suite 2, Chandler

Phone: (480) 738-1610

ImprovMANIA

Owner: David and Colleen Specht

How long in business: Two months

Specialty: Improv comedy

Unique features: ImprovMANIA opened its comedy club in downtown Chandler in September. After performing in various venues in downtown Chandler for more than ﬁve years, ImprovMANIA was able to open its own venue. It offers improv comedy classes for kids, teens and adults. Its comedy shows are based on audience suggestions in the style of the hit TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

The 7 p.m. show is always family friendly and the 9 p.m. show is PG-13. Tickets are $10. Hours: 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays Address: 250 S. Arizona Ave., Suite 3, Chandler Phone: (480) 699-4598

SEND IN YOUR BUSINESS PROFILE FOR ‘DOING BUSINESS’

The SanTan Sun News would like to welcome new area businesses or existing ones that may be new to our readers. Submit information about your business for a “Doing Business” mini-business proﬁle in an upcoming issue of our publication, which is distributed to 38,000 homes, racks and boxes on the ﬁrst and third Saturdays of the month.

Please include all of the following items: Name of business, name of owner(s), how long the business has existed, specialty, unique features, hours of operation, address, telephone number, website, email address. Also include an at least 300 dpi photo of the business owner or logo.

The family-owned Subaru Superstore of Chandler has once again partnered with the Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) and the Chandler Education Foundation (CEF) for the “Share the Love” event.

The event, which allows Subaru of America and the Subaru Superstore of Chandler to donate to the CEF Scholarship Fund, runs through Friday, Jan. 2. For every Subaru sold, $250 is donated to the fund.

Richard and Lisa Cvijanovich, Subaru Superstore of Chandler owners, are supporters of CUSD, donating $10,000 for Junior High VEX Robotics this year and $6,000 for an Apple computer media lab.

“We selected CEF again for our ‘Share the Love’ event because we place a priority on supporting our outstanding CUSD teachers and students and hope to be able to double the $10,950 donation earlier this year,” says Lisa Cvijanovich.“Also, since one-third of Subaru drivers are educators, it made sense to select a local charity that will have a direct impact on our clients.”

Until Jan. 2, Subaru will donate $250 for every new Subaru vehicle sold or leased to the customer’s choice of the following national charities: ASPCA, Make-A-Wish, Meals on Wheels Association of America, National

Park Foundation and Alzheimer’s Association (local chapter). In addition to these, the CEF was selected exclusively by the Subaru Superstore of Chandler.

“We are excited to be able to share more love with more charities— including the charities in our owners’ backyard like CEF,” says Subaru chief marketing officer Dean Evans.

With the sales growth over the last seven years, Subaru and Subaru owners will have given $50 million to diverse and worthy causes.

A family-owned and -operated dealership, Subaru Superstore is the Southwest’s largest Subaru volume dealer and awarded the Arizona Subaru Dealer of the Year for customer satisfaction by DealerRater.com. Its state-of-the-art, 40,000-square-foot facility located on 7 acres in Chandler offers the largest selection of new, used and certified pre-owned Subaru vehicles plus, the most highly trained factory-certified technicians along with the very best selection of parts and accessories.

For more information, contact Subaru Superstore at 1050 S. Gilbert Rd., Chandler by calling (480) 2226000.

CORPORATE CHRONICLES

Jim LaSon joins EXIT Realty in Chandler

EXIT Realty Sun Living in Chandler announced the addition of Jim LaSon to its team of real estate professionals. LaSon has been a top producing agent within the Phoenix Metro area since moving to Arizona in 2010.

EXIT Realty Sun Living is located at 2450 S. Gilbert Rd., Suite 205, Chandler. For more information, call (480) 422-8980.

Moyer earns Military Relocation Professional Certiﬁcation

James Moyer.

Submitted photo

James Moyer with HomeSmart has earned the nationally recognized Military Relocation Professional Certification. The National Association of Realtors confers the MRP certification to Realtors who want to help military personnel and veterans find housing

solutions that best meet their needs and allow them to take full advantage of their military beneﬁts.

When military staff and their families relocate, the service of a real estate professional who understands their needs and timetables can make the transfer easier, faster and less stressful. Realtors who earn this certiﬁcation know to work with active duty military buyers and sellers, as well as veterans.

The certification provides NAR’s members with resources to accommodate current and former military service members at any stage of their military career and is an approved elective for NAR’s Accredited Buyers Representative designation. To earn the MRP certification, Realtors are required to be in good standing with NAR; complete a one-day MRP certification core course; complete a pre-class reading to learn military background information and better understand important acronyms and military culture and complete two webinars. For more information, visit www. militaryrelcationpro.org.

Earnhardts acquire Gilbert Volkswagen dealership

The Earnhardt family has added the Volkswagen brand to its expanding group of auto dealerships, San Tan Volkswagen, at the San Tan Motorplex, 1489 E. Autoplex Loop, Gilbert. The acquisition was ﬁnalized on Monday, Nov. 24, and the dealership was renamed San Tan Volkswagen, an Earnhardt dealership.

“We promise our customers at San Tan Volkswagen the same great customer service and low prices that we’ve based our business on for the past 63 years,” says San Tan Volkswagen Dealer and Owner Hal Earnhardt. “We have wanted a Volkswagen franchise for many years, and we are delighted to now offer this excellent brand to our customers. We have no doubt that San Tan Volkswagen will be a very popular dealership and we are proud that it is a member of our auto group.”

The general manager of the new store is Kenny Clayton, who has been a key manager with the Earnhardt organization since 2001.

“If you haven’t seen the new Volkswagen models, I would like to personally invite you to come and view them,” he says.

The all-new Golf was named 2015 Motor Trend’s Car of the Year and the 2015 Jetta was the 2014 IIHS Top Safety pick.

The ﬁrst Earnhardt store was founded by the family patriarch Tex Earnhardt in September 1951 in Chandler. At his original Ford Dealership, he sold one car at a time. Over the years, the dealerships and Earnhardt’s name grew, according to a press release. He became widely known for his great deals and as the cowboy dealer who rode a bull. Earnhardt’s trademark slogan, “That ain’t no bull,” was the ultimate truth in advertising. The bull he rode in the commercials was actually a steer. Earnhardt, 83, is still involved with his family’s automobile business and visits the Earnhardt stores almost daily. Earnhardt Auto Centers is owned and managed by the Earnhardt family and is the oldest and largest familyowned automobile group in Arizona. The organization sells 18 different automobile brands: Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Mazda, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Nissan, Toyota, Buick, GMC, Scion, Honda, Cadillac, Maserati and now Volkswagen. The dealerships are located in Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Prescott Valley, Scottsdale, Avondale, Goodyear, Peoria and Phoenix. Earnhardt dealerships consistently garner factory awards for superior customer service.

United Food Bank announces new president and CEO

The United Food Board of Directors has announced Ginny Hildebrand, who has been serving in an interim capacity since April, as its new president and CEO effective immediately.

“Since serving in an interim capacity, Ginny has greatly impressed the board of directors, staff and other stakeholders of the Food Bank,” says Bill Warren, chairman of the board of directors for United Food Bank. “We are delighted she came forward as a candidate for the position and accepted to lead the organization on a permanent basis. She brings a wealth of knowledge to the food bank from her nearly 28 years of experience as president and CEO of the Association Arizona of Food Banks, and is well connected in the nonproﬁt sector both locally and nationally.”

“Most importantly,” he adds, “Ginny brings a genuine passion for the food bank’s mission of serving hungry people, having served on many local, state and national advisory boards surrounding hunger issues. She will deﬁnitely build on the good work the Food Bank has been doing in Arizona since 1983.”

Hildebrand’s time at the AAFB guided many accomplishments, including the development of the Arizona Statewide Gleaning Project; advocacy work leading to the passage of the Charity Food Bank Act in 1986; the Food Bank Governmental Incentive Bill in 1996 in Arizona; and the Charitable Crop Contribution Bill Update in 2012.

She was also actively involved on many tasks forces at the local and state levels.

Hildebrand was a member of the Arizona Department of Economic Security Hunger Advisory Council from 1990 to 2013; a member of the Maricopa County and State Set Aside Boards for Emergency Food and Shelter Programs from 1986 to 2013 and spent the last four years as part of the executive committee. At the organizational board level, Hildebrand was co-chairwoman of the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program Task Force for Feeding America, The Nation’s Food Bank Network.

Beginning in 2009 and ending in 2013, she was also an advising member to Feeding America Staff regarding Partner State Association matters.

The local and national community has also recognized Hildebrand with several awards, which include the Superior Service Award—Public Community Service from the Maricopa Association of Government in 1996; Champion for Children Award from Arizona Children’s Action Alliance 2001; the ﬁrst nationally given Feeding America and Food Research and Action Center joint award in 2011; and the Margie Frost Champion Against Poverty Award from the Arizona Community Action Association in 2013.

Hildebrand retired from AAFB in June 2013 and continues to be active in her community through her involvement in her church, Grace United Methodist in Mesa, where she is a member of numerous ministries. She has also been a past board member with the Boy Scouts of America’s Grand Canyon Council, UMOM New Day Centers, Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church, Arizona Ecumenical Council and volunteered through the East Valley Active Adult Program-RSVP to enroll eligible individuals through the Affordable Care Act.

“Beginning this new, permanent role at such a critical time like the holiday season brings a great opportunity to assure the hungry people who may need our services know how to access them in the East

SALE

Valley and surrounding Eastern Arizona counties,” says Hildebrand. “It also creates an opportunity for individuals, groups, volunteers and other organizations to help their hungry neighbors’ right where they live, work, play, learn, serve and worship.”

Hildebrand’s plans include continuing to work with partner agencies to learn what the communities need and how they can support the agencies and people they serve; collaborating with partner agencies to create ways to help the people they serve to no longer need their services by educating people about cooking, access to community gardens, and ways to increase their resiliency in times of crises; and creating more partnerships with agencies to educate the general population on how to maximize their food-buying dollars.

United Food Bank is a private nonproﬁt organization that provides hunger relief/ food assistance by collecting, acquiring, storing and distributing food and related commodities through a network of more than 175 partner social services agencies in eastern Maricopa County, Gila and Pinal counties and southern Apache and Navajo counties. It provides community support through 257 separate agency programs. Last year, the food bank provided more than 18 million meals to Arizonans in need. United Food Bank is a member in good standing of Feeding America and the Association of Arizona food banks.

WHAT’S IT WORTH?

Welcome to the 2014 Holiday Season!

Another Black Friday is fast approaching and many of us are wondering where can we come up with that little bit of extra cash to make this season of joy and giving one to be remembered. One way is to use the services of experts in the fields of Jewelry, Art, Collectables and other assets to see WHAT’S IT WORTH? The expertise provided by these professional appraisers to evaluate these types of assets can then offer you an option to sell these valuables at a fair price to provide additional funds to purchase the gifts and items to make the Holiday Season a special one.

The jewelry, art, collectables in the safe deposit box or hidden in the drawer of a cabinet that has been sitting there for years can be evaluated and then sold. Resulting in cash to spend immediately. Really no better way to raise money, it offers an alternative to using credit cards that will cause aggravation in January when the bills come.

Remember that there are experts who have years of experience researching assets and buying these unusual valuables. The process of evaluation and buying will create the extra cash for the Holiday Season. Please keep in mind that there is an option to convert your “stuff” to cash. May this Holiday Season be one with much Health and Joy.

— David Goldstein Owner, Biltmore Loan and Jewelry

“BILTMORE BUYS OR LOANS ON ANYTHING YOU OWN”

Ginny Hildebrand. Submitted photo

Trust your home cleaning to Maid Right

BY LAUREN CUSIMANO

Maid Right of Greater Phoenix has no equal in the world of home cleaning services.

It has combined a state-of-the-art, science-driven cleaning process with an old-fashioned business practice that ensures those who clean your house are Maid Right owners, not employees.

With the franchisees leading the way, Maid Right has created three cleaning steps to ensure your home is as germ-free as it is dust-free:

EnvironShield: Maid Right uses technology-rich equipment that lightly sanitizes your home against germs, leaving a clean and crisp smell free of solvent odors or perfumes. Your home is 99.9 percent germ-free.

Technics: The service combines colorcoded, microﬁber cleaning cloths for each room with environmentally friendly disinfectants/cleaners. For example, one color of microﬁber cloths are used in bathrooms with the corresponding cleaners that are best suited for that area. This ensures, among other things, virtually no cross contamination among rooms.

Signature Clean: The same professionals clean your home with the same process every time.

In the end, you receive a moderately priced, high-value cleaning service that combines the intimacy of a mom-andpop operation with the quality and expertise of a major national company.

The idea of creating “mini-franchises” to allow business ownership began in 1991 when Jan-Pro, already a successful commercial cleaning company, decided it would help people create their own franchises while improving Jan-Pro’s own service.

By 2012, Jan-Pro had mushroomed to

10,000 franchisees and was the nation’s second-largest commercial cleaning service.

About the same time, Jan-Pro’s parent company decided its commercial business model could work in the home cleaning business, and soon two Phoenix businessmen took note.

Tod Higinbotham and Jeff Woods were looking for a change of life –Higinbotham spent years traveling the world as a businessman and Woods owned his own furniture and cabinet business.

“We wanted nothing to do with furniture manufacturing or making computer chips,” Higinbotham says of the pair’s past professions.

“I was very interested in business to consumer, because my whole career was in business to business. I really liked Maid Right’s creative business models.”

Soon, Maid Right of Greater Phoenix was born.

Today, they help new Maid Right franchisees—setting up LLCs and bank accounts, providing equipment and training new business owners in cleaning techniques and customer service. Everyone’s backgrounds are checked, and all are bonded and insured. Franchises are backed with aggressive marketing, and they acquire new clients from the Maid Right master franchise run by Higinbotham and Woods.

Perhaps their own business plan best sums up their goal: “...we want to drive a customer-focused team and business process that strive to exceed customer expectations and make the cleaning experience a true value-added part of their life.”

With the slogan, “Life is short. Clean less.” Maid Right can make the timeconsuming process of housecleaning a thing of the past.