Niles-Buchanan YMCA

I joined this YMCA in April 2022 and have since had two of my kiddos attend Young Adventure Camp, Summer My Way, GSRP at Northside, Must Do Mornings, youth basketball, swim lessons and accelerated swim lessons, Ballet (at the Benton Harbor-St Joseph location), and the Thanksgiving Run. We go an average of 7-20 days a month and I personally love attending the group classes Zumba and Zumba Toning with Heidi and Kickboxing with Kendall. I've had a few issues hereand there with the childwatch but overall it's a very good experience and the staff are incredible and helpful. Just communicate openly with them, have your child use the resteoom prior to dropping them off (or change their diaper) and leave them with a snack everytime. Those are the main things I do to avoid issues, along with attending consistently so they know my children and the kids are comfortable there. We love swimming in the Warm Therapy Pool during family open swim. The sauna is also nice (adults only). We're going to try soccer through the Y in the spring and I want to try Kids Night Out at some point as well. I recommend participating in events like Healthy Kids Day if you can and doing their 5K's to support different causes. Our youngest is having a birthday party there in November with one hour in the pool and one hour in a reserved space. I reserved early with the front desk and paid in advance. She's very excited. I'm overall pleased with my experience and I don't see myself cancelling anytime soon.

Vivian, Val, and the entire staff deserve five stars for providing a clean, welcoming environment always. The higher intensity upgrades and medium/heavy strike bag upstairs are a dynamic use of valuable space. Their range of kettlebells is wide and plenty.

Went by this week to look into membership- the front desk staff was extremely rude and unprofessional. I walked up and said Hi and instantly told, “ I am not working right now.” This associate had a work shirt on and was sitting behind the desk. How was I suppose to know she was unavailable for a hello…. So I started to walk towards to the other lady behind the desk and the first one said, “ she’s not working yet either. You’ll have to wait.” So unfriendly and unconcerned with customers service. Absolutely not what the YMCA is all about.

The YMCA might be great, but I will not be booking any events with them again. Piss poor communication on the day of our event we were told we did not have access to the AUX Gym for our event until 3:00pm even though we book 2pm-4pm. Save your money and frustration and book your event elsewhere.

I really like this ymca. It's clean and they have updated equipment for the most part. It is a little pricey. And I wish there were more classes offered from 6am-7am but I still gave 5 stars because it is still a great place to go to the gym! The staff are always friendly. I would recommend this Y!

Update: They’ve stopped rushing us out the door thankfully. But, I took a star away from my original review BECAUSE, there is this one lady in child watch that has the biggest attitude problem. She is not friendly to me in the least. Makes snide comments, makes “t’s” noises directed toward me. She’s there every single time I go and take the kids. It’s getting to the point I don’t even want to go, its why I missed a month going. She makes me feel weird, bad, something about taking my kids and dropping them off. I’m about to cancel my membership because it’s just not worth the way it makes me feel. It’s just this one lady who is ALWAYS there. All the other ladies are super nice! Smh 🤦‍♀️ it’s sad. I’m giving this 4 stars missing one because I’m not sure how I feel about the child watch place. Everytime I pick up my baby she screams bloody murder until I feed her, mind you I feed her before I come and bring extra. Also my son does love this place but he’s a bit on the strong willed side... and while I’m trying to get my infant settled in her car seat and calmed they are rushing him out the door and to put his shoes on. So much so that they put their hands on him and literally drag him out of there. how hard is it to wait until I am done with the baby to then tend to my 4 yr old and get him to leave and help him put his stuff on??? I mean he’s playing nicely right so let me interrupt him ! Other then that I love this place and come 3x a week. They even made it affordable for low income parents and my whole family of 7! They do also explain in the beginning about the cancellation process and what u need to do !

Wonderful atmosphere! Staff and other members are a joy to be around. The only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 is the free weights. As a father who pays for the family membership would like to see some updating in that area.

Beautiful place. Great place to meet people wanting to get in shape together. Very friendly people. Great day care for your Children as you exercise or swim

All the staff here are really welcoming and have great communication. They even let us play in the additional gym with my three little ones due to bigger kids on the main basketball court. Heidi had an excellent Zumba and fitness class that really got into. They're members made us feel right at home. Thank you Niles for treating us so nicely. Respectfully, The Joaquin's

As a newcomer to the town, I was eager to find a gym that would accommodate both my workout needs and my kids. We loved our previous YMCA, especially the discounts I received as a first responder. I decided to drive a bit further to the Y in Niles, drawn by the beautiful area and the various activities available for kids after workouts. The front staff was fantastic, and the workout area staff were very supportive. Although the weight area felt a bit small, it was manageable, and the treadmills were in great condition. However, I encountered issues with the kids' watch staff. Unfortunately, they were quite rude and seemed disinterested in their roles. They placed all the kids of different ages in the smallest room with limited activities, which was disappointing. My daughter shared a hurtful experience where one of the staff members dismissed her as "just a little kid," which affected her deeply. She mentioned that the staff was often mean to the children, and I overheard them yelling at the kids. It was clear that the environment was not welcoming, and my daughter even expressed her reluctance to return. I attempted to report this to the manager but received no response despite leaving several voicemails. When I spoke to the front desk staff about my concerns, I felt brushed off, especially since I didn't know the names of the girls involved. I suggested that a schedule could help identify the staff on duty during those times. Ultimately, I chose to switch to a different gym. It's disheartening that the management didn't seem to care enough to follow up with me. It seemed to me it was better to not even try to report them because the manager didn't care enough to contact me. I truly appreciate the Y, but I won't be returning to this location with my kids.

I am a regular at the Niles YMCA, usually going in the early morning. In comparison even to the St Joe YMCA, their sister, I like this Y better. The indoor track is 1/10th of a mile so its just long enough to not be a constant turn. The cleanliness of the place is the big winner for me. The majority of people using the facility follow the wipe down rules and the staff always have clean towels and full sanitizer bottles throughout the place. I also do an occasional private personal training and have always had a great session. My trainer helped me go from not being able to run 30 seconds without dying in September to running the YMCA 5K Thanksgiving Turkey Trot in 38 minutes two months later. 100 lbs down and still pushing hard, thanks YMCA.

Needs updated equipment and could use a remodel in the free weight area. Some of their equipment is so old, it's a safety hazard. The benches are very wobbly and unstable so if you are pressing heavy be careful. Also the equipment is very limited, not much space in free weights. Definitely could use an update

This YMCA is clean and nice. I don't like how they have it set-up though. They have machine weights outside of the weight room, which is fine. However, they have them pointed directly at the treadmills and ellipticals so when you are doing your reps you are staring right at someone walking on the treadmill. If they set up the machines diagonally facing the wall it would be much more appealing to use. ALSO, if you're a lady, when you walk into the gym/rec areas it is like walking into a male prison and these men haven't seen a woman in 3 years. They gawk, hoop and holler and some just might hit on you. If that's your thing then, okay. But if you'd like to workout without the testosterone sniffing you down then you've been warned. :) However, with that being said- The workers are friendly and it is very clean! The nicest YMCA in the area!

We used to live in Niles and my kids will go to the YMCA to swim with their friends almost everyday in the summer it's a good place for kids to stay off the streets and out of trouble

I enjoyed this Y until I tried out the new health center at Andrews. Now I realize what I've been missing. The Y is dirtier, fewer group fitness options, less-maintained equipment, and less friendly staff. Plus, the Y is expensive!

I have just encountered the worst customer service I have ever experienced here. I don't go to the Y that much, but when I do, the staff is always nice and respectful... not today! I brought my 6 year old sister here today. I am a member and she is not. I asked if it was necessary to pay the $5 fee for her to get in since she doesn't have access to many things in the building. They said I did, so I ran back to my car to get my purse. I got my sister all signed in and paid for and then the lady insisted I was not a member. I asked her if she had spelled my name correctly and she didn't. No big deal, right? So then I go up on their (beautiful) indoor track and ran awhile with my sister. After that, I wanted to go use some of the equipment. I didn't see the sign where you supposedly weren't allowed to have anyone below the age of 11 in there. One of the staff came up (very rudely) and said "Um excuse me? She's not allowed to be in here. Or in the weight room". I was appalled by the way that she had said that so my immediate reaction was to defend myself. I said "She is not hurting anything. She is standing out of everyone's way. I did not want to put her in the daycare since she is so much older than the kids in there." the lady said "it doesn't matter, she can't be in here. That's the rules." I totally get that. But it's what she did after this that utterly pissed me off. I asked the lady calmly why I had to pay the fee if she didn't have access to anything. The lady rolled her eyes at me, turned around and walked away. This is so unacceptable. I asked a simple question and got nothing but sass back from the workers today. I am writing this review because this cannot go unknown. I was so appalled that I left right when that lady rolled her eyes at me. Other than that, the Y is a very nice building and it used to be a comfortable environment for the most part. Other than the fact that you have males constantly making googly eyes at you, acting like they've never seen a woman before.

I am retired, (age 74 years young) and for the past four years my supplemental insurance has a program called Silver sneakers, which many y's , gyms, and other exercise establishment s recognize and allow seniors to come to keep active. The Niles YMCA allowed silver sneakers until last winter. At that time they announced they could no longer allow it because it did not make money from this program. They said at that time for seniors to continue to use the Y they would have to pay full price. The silver sneakers previously paid a portion to the Y. The Y did not offer any other option for the seniors, so they were just out. Also many seniors spend a part of the year in southern climates, but the Y still wanted full payment. The Niles YMCA decided the money was more important than than the seniors who supported it for all these years. The seniors who's names are on those plaques would be disappointed in how it is being run. Sad senior RB

Be VERY careful you know what you are signing up for. I decided to cancel my membership because my job has become extremely demanding and I don't have time to go. I was told I had to give a 30 day notice to cancel my membership and because that fell just inside the beginning of a month, I was told I'd have to pay for the following month, too. So it cost me $130 to cancel a gym membership. That's right, they wouldn't even pro-rate for the 30 day notice. Unbelievable.......

Was excited to try out this facility as it looks very up-to-date and modern from the outside and entry and good options in the area are few. And it does have a lot of different activity options, and if I was a swimmer primarily, this would definitely be top pick. However, my first workout was extremely disappointing--the archaic elliptical machine not only did NOT connect to one of the four or five small TV's (seriously, only four or five TVs for the entire cardio room, which is big),or the Internet or have a screen of its own with scenery, it didn't even have a headphone jack. Nor did the heart rate feature work and the pedals tilted you forward so you were always leaning. It simply had red dots indicating the resistance level. It was like a machine from gyms I went to in the 80s. Decided right then I didn't want the membership. Plus, like the other reviews, letting gyms do an automatic payment is ridiculous to get stopped and you have to pay for 2 additional months after you quit (like the sign up fee wasn't bad enough, you also have to pay an un-sign up fee!)