PureGym - Formerly Blink Fitness — Attraction in Jersey City

I have been in many different gyms.... this gym without a doubt is the worst I have ever experienced.

1. Absolute filthy everywhere, bathrooms, equipment, etc. I have never even seen an employee cleaning. And if it is done at closing time, its not enough. Needs to be cleaned more often... Other professional run gyms have their employees clean the equipment, obviously because alot of people dont clean it after they use it. Pretty standard stuff that should be done, dont even get me going on the bathrooms and how often they should be checked, this is basic stuff. Where is the managment? Which should check on all areas to check if they are clean after enforcing a cleaning schedule.

2. Hygienic policies are not enforced. People on the top floor taking their shirts off and strutting in the mirror. Doesn't matter if they "look good" or not, its not allowed. Huge lack of respect for others when people do that for the people around them trying to do their best. **There are no signs that say "do not take your shirt off" etc. Which every gym normally have. There are mirrors in the locker room for that. Or your own home.

3. Safety hazards. "Rack lifting" policies are not enforced. People are always standing infront of the dumbbell rack, do a set, then set the weight down and continueto stand in everyones way. They are in the way of the people who are actually strong enough to carry their weight to their workout place. It is a huge safety issue and all other gyms usually have a sign, " No Rack Lifting, step away from the weight rack after grabbing your weights" etc. There is no sign.

4. Capacity. Way too many people compared to equipment, it is absolutely packed at peak time and nothing is available on the top floor, let alone the other floor usually too. Clearly it should be expanded. No matter how packed the gym is, it always says 50% full. Which is bull, I have see the gym where literally mostly all equipment has people at it and still says 50 percent. Capacity per square foot of a building space is not the same as Capacity to equipment availability.

5. Customer service. I have never had a bad experience talking to an employee. They all are very polite, well spoken, attentive, and have great customer service skills. They are always quick to be helpful if you need help with anything, question, concerns, complaints, they are great. Other than that, throw some signs up for the disrespectful people or people who are unawares of gym edict and have management make a clean/check list/schedule. And maybe it'll start to be a decent gym. I doubt it will ever expand so Capacity will always be an issue durring peak time.

I am contemplating using a different Blink or switching to .... hmmmm ANY OTHER GYM. Going to this gym after so many in my life is like walking onto a gross, dirty, disrespectful, human sardine can, cram packed with people, Twilight Zone gym vibe, literally the opposite of what a gym should be. I see this gym has many bad reviews too. I love the workout, hate the gym,...

I've been coming here on and off for years. Always in the evenings after work or weekend mornings. It used to smell awful, but I think that's improved lately. It does get SUPER crowded after work hours, not sure about mornings. It's hard to get the machine you want without waiting and areas to stretch are lacking. A few positives are that they do have a lot of machines and weights on both levels. The cardio machines are new, but I don't like that the treadmills no longer have a "cool down" button. I liked to finish my runs with a hard sprint then hit "cool down" to drop to walking pace. Now I have to rapidly tap down the speed while sprinting, which is awful and unsafe. But worse would be just hitting emergency stop with no movement at all then having to restart and set a walking pace. Terrible design choice to lose the cool down button.

I tried the personal training a few times when I first joined. They had some good trainers that gave me solid exercises to target different muscles. There's high turnover with the trainers though so the continuity was lacking. Even while training though, it could be hard to find proper space.

When it's empty (rare) it's a good place to work out and it's one of the only proper gyms around with a good monthly price. It's too bad there aren't more places for local youth to hang out (e.g., a community center with basketball court, a gym/pool, games, etc.) because it can get overrun with high schoolers hanging out. Better to be exercising than on the street, no question. Just wish Jersey City provided nice indoor public spaces for them to be active and be kids. Homes are small around here and I totally get why they want to get out of the house to hang with their friends. Definitely contributes to the crowding though.

Another plus are the bike racks out front. They were pretty hostile toward bikes being locked up inside the ground level for some reason. Glad the city added the racks right outside though. More people should be...

I’ve been a Green member for 4+ years at Blink Journal Square. On Aug 20, 2025, I arrived and was suddenly told I had to enroll in a new app to enter—with zero prior notice. My regular barcode, which I’ve used for years, was declared “not working.” Instead of helping, most staff were sarcastic, with one saying, “soon there will be doors and you won’t get in without the app.”

I was even falsely accused of using someone else’s account, despite showing bank statements with monthly Blink charges. Another staff member still insisted I was “paying someone else.” When I finally tried my old phone numbers myself, I found the account—only to discover multiple mistakes:

My first name was spelled wrong,

My last name didn’t match my ID,

My date of birth was entered incorrectly,

My email address on file wasn’t even mine.

I had to fix all of these myself in the system while staff stood nearby talking and laughing loudly. I was literally doing their job. When I mentioned being a loyal member, one staff bluntly said, “it doesn’t matter.”

One staff even said my bad experience was because “there are a lot of members.” That excuse makes no sense—by that logic, a hospital with too many patients could mix up records and then claim it’s acceptable because they’re busy. Volume is no justification for sarcasm, false accusations, or poor service.

It’s frustrating that the gym can set up tables for personal training ads but didn’t give any notice about this critical access change. Most staff showed no regard for members or basic hospitality.

That said, I do want to note that one staff member was actually helpful—they involved the manager, made the necessary corrections, and ensured I could finally log in. Unfortunately, that professionalism was the exception, not the norm.

Blink needs to train its staff to treat loyal, paying members with respect, communication, and basic courtesy—not sarcasm, excuses,...