This is Part III of a series featuring the East Providence businesses named “the best” in Rhode Island according to ‘Rhode Island Monthly’. Read Part I here, and then read Part II here.

There’s something about the approaching of fall and winter in New England that invigorates the soul. Perhaps it’s the anticipation of the New Year on the horizon, or the coming festivities of Halloween, but it’s a season that tends to bring out the best in people, for whatever reason.

And whether you’re looking to build a strong physical foundation to resist the coming winter winds, or you simply want a new fashionable coat for the most stylistic seasons — without blowing your holiday gift budget all in one place, or contributing to the wildly wasteful landscape of modern consumerism — there are two spots in Rumford that were just recognized in this year’s “Best of Rhode Island” from “Rhode Island Monthly” that are more than worth checking out yourself, if you haven’t already.

A gym that meets you where you are, and unlocks where you want to go
In the constantly-evolving, often-disorienting fitness industry, it can seem as though the deck is wholly stacked against you in terms of finding a place that doesn’t intimidate you with its intensity, or overwhelm you with claims of miraculous outcomes using scientifically suspect methods of exercise.

But if there is anyone who has walked the walk of tried and true, results-oriented training enough to talk the talk, it’s Kerry Taylor.
In terms of having a proven resume for knowing how to build a better, healthier body, the muscular Taylor has not only his own physical frame as proof — he has hardware.

Taylor was the captain of the 1998 UMASS Amherst football team that won the Division I-AA National Championship in 1998. He would go on to be drafted by the Detroit Lions of the NFL, before landing with the hometown New England Patriots for two years. Although he left to play for the original incarnation of the XFL and then the Arena Football League right before the Pats dynasty began in 2001, he shared a locker room as a tight end with Patriots legends like Ben Coates and Chris Slade.

“I wasn't the greatest football player when I started,” Taylor said on the journey. “And then over time, I committed myself in the weight room, and was just constantly doing something to get better at it. And I turned myself into a better football player. And when I got to college, I just took that same approach. Next thing I knew, I was getting letters of interest and calls from NFL teams and they were coming to our practices.”

Following his pro career, his former strength coach at UMASS suggested Taylor get certified as a personal trainer. That led eventually to a job as head trainer for the nearby, now-defunct Bally Total Fitness, which led directly into him opening his own club, 212 Health and Performance, just down the road in Rumford Center, in 2009. The club just received editor’s choice for best functional fitness gym in the state over the summer.

According to their perfect rating with dozens of reviews on Google, Taylor has crafted a space at 212 where everyone is welcome, no matter what their physical capabilities, and no matter what their end goal is.

“Our clientele are people who work hard in life and want to create longevity in their life,” he said. “We work with young athletes all the way up to some clients that are in their 80s, and everybody in between.”

Offering one-on-one personal training, large group training, and special offerings like boxing, Taylor also works to bring in outside consultants to offer trainings for things like self defense, training for specified strength competitions, and partnering with neighbor business, Avenue N, to host nutritional cooking demonstrations.

Essentially, while you can join 212 with the goal of shedding excess weight, or getting absolutely shredded, it’s not the only motivating factor that will be embraced by Taylor and his team.

“The goal was really just to start working with people to get them to understand they can achieve a lot of things they may not think they could beyond just losing weight,” Taylor said. “We’re about getting people stronger but also getting them to move better, be more agile, have more body awareness. And the result of creating and doing all that will help with the aesthetics over time.”

That philosophy is based in meeting people where they are. Whether your goal is one of his clients — who had suffered three heart attacks and was thrilled just to be the only one of his friends who was able to walk under his own power while strolling through the casino — or any gradient above that finish line, Taylor said the desire to improve a little bit at a time, in a realistic manner, was the big secret.

It’s also the basis for the name of the gym.

“It's all based on the concept of boiling water,” Taylor explained. “At 211 degrees, water is hot. But at 212 degrees, water boils. And with boiling water you get steam, and with steam you can power a locomotive. So with that one degree of change, you get access to a whole new level of power, strength, and life.”

So for Taylor, and for the trainers at 212, if you have a desire to be better, they can help you get there. But it takes you to take the first step.

“The hardest weight in the gym is the door. If they can open that weight, the hardest part of the work is done,” he said. Once you get here, you've done your job. Now let us take over.”

Business name: 212 Health and Performance
Address: 20 Newman Ave #2002, Rumford, RI 02916
Website: 212healthandperformance.com

Saving the planet, and your wardrobe, one come-up at a time
While summer has its moments, no one can argue the fall and winter are the time to shine when it comes to showing off your favorite fits. And when it comes to finding something unique that will turn heads and spark a little healthy envy among your friends, you’re sure to encounter the delightfully unexpected at Jackie on Broadway.

Owner Johanna Taylor has taken what was started and well-received three years ago by Jaclyn Trudel, and launched it even further into success. The store was voted as the best consignment shop in the state by “Rhode Island Monthly” editors over the summer, adding to their two awards from the publication back in 2023.

“When the shop first opened, I was very excited to have something like this in our neighborhood,” Taylor said. “Because we don't really have anything like this close. There's a lot of stuff downtown in Providence, but not so much here on our side of the bay.”

Taylor was such a fan of the shop as a customer, in fact, that when Trudel announced she was no longer interested in running the store, she fully embraced a whimsical idea first floated by her friends just to buy the store for herself.

“I was talking about it with some friends who were like, ‘Oh, you spend enough time there. spend enough money there. You should just buy the store.’ I was like, sure guys, I'll just buy a store,” she said. “Then I kind of started thinking about it, like, okay, could I actually make this work? Because I do think it's important to keep it here. It has been great for the neighborhood. And it’s such a beautiful space.”

Taylor took the leap of faith shortly after Labor Day in 2024. Recently celebrating her one-year anniversary of ownership, she has built on the success of what she inherited, partially by committing to more social media outreach and expanding the offerings for her clientele.

“We now have a little bit of a younger set. I'm trying to to bring in some tween clothing.” Taylor said. “That's one of the fun things. It’s like a little puzzle, because you have to try to figure out how do I cater to this this audience, which ranges from the mid-teens to the mid-70s?”

A Brockton, Mass. native and a Rumford resident of the past 11 years, Taylor takes pride in operating a shop that, in its own small way, fights back against an industrial shopping culture that is rife with waste and a proliferation of one-use (or not even one-use) practices among customers.

“I would say probably 30% of what comes in the door here still has tags on it. Something that was purchased and they just never wore it,” she said. “We have a good set of formal wear where people come in, they wear it to a wedding and then they don't wear it again. Generally, as a woman, you wear it to one event and then you're like, okay, I want something new the next time.”

Taylor said she has noticed her customers caring more about sustainability.

“There's a whole new consideration about the future of the earth, and what are the things that you can do to help,” she said. “And this is one of those things that you can do to help.”

Taylor has also set up arrangements with McAuley Ministries and EBCAP’s community closet. Any items that don’t sell within their window, if they aren’t requested back by the consignor, are donated among those charitable endeavors.

“It’s a way to give back to the community, and I love being able to do that,” she said.

Of course, at the core of the business model is gathering interesting fashion items — designer bags, shoes, jackets, etc. — along with artisanal crafts (many made by local Rhode Islanders), and splitting the profits with those who bring in the secondhand goods.

Taylor said the shop recently hit the mark of working with their 1,000th consignor, and broke news that they will be breaking down a neighboring wall to expand the store in time for the holiday shopping rush.

But to Taylor, the true joy in the job comes from helping someone find that “perfect fit”, perhaps that they didn’t even know they were looking for.

“I had a woman come in one time and she was was looking for a dress to go to a wedding in New York City. She tried on probably 12 dresses, and hated every one of them,” she said. She recommended her try on a dress that was on one of the shop’s mannequins.

“She put it on and when I tell you it was like it had been made for her, tailor-made, it was beautiful. And she sent me a picture afterwards in New York City of her in the dress,” she continued. “She said, ‘It made me feel like a million bucks’…Those are the kind of things where I'm like, okay, this is fun. Because you're helping somebody have a happy moment.”