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When Joanie Bebb and her husband Tom were looking for a hobby to share seven years ago, they stumbled onto what was to become their passion--rock climbing.
Today, Joanie, a born entrepreneur, has succeeded in pairing that passion with a degree in marketing from Ursinus College to create a successful business venture.
The result: Reading Rocks, an indoor climbing gym located in the Wyomissing Industrial Park on Bern Road.
With the help of Joanie's gym, the huge, empty brick buildings which were once home to Textile Machine, part of Wyomissing Industries, have evolved into a recreation center of sorts in the past few years.
Reading Rocks, a spacious gym housing simulated cliffs and a repelling tower, has Laser Quest and Gold's Gym as neighbors.
"We looked at this building five years ago, before Gold's and Laser Quest were here," Joanie says. "It took us three years to open the gym. What held us back was that we couldn't raise money from investors at first, because no one had heard of climbing gyms in this area then. It was hard to convince people that this wasn't just a (West Coast) fad. Now that rock climbing is being considered as an Olympic event, it's more visible; it's on TV."
Indoor climbing gyms began in Seattle, Wash. during the mid-'80s as a way for climbers to stay in shape year round, when bad weather would prevent their climbing outdoors, she says. Since then, the number of facilities in the country has grown from about eight to about 250.
Joanie started Reading Rocks with two partners and fellow climbers--Carol Clouse, a local architect, and David Turner, an attorney. Since it opened...