Prior to March 2020, retailers worked overtime in gyms and fitness studios to fill the space vacated by stores struggling to compete with online retailers.
The landlord offered flexible rental terms, lower rents, and prime location.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of fitness and recreational sports centers increased by 45 (10.3%) to 483 in the third quarter of 2014-2018 on Long Island.
However, the suspension of the COVID-19 pandemic over the months of 2020 suspended its growth and forced some operators out of business. And because the virus is still a threat, many former gym members are hesitant to return to direct training.
Economic strategy
According to industry experts, to attract members, Jim focuses on emphasizing marketing and cleaning protocols. Liz Clark, CEO and President of IHRSA (International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association), a Boston-based industry group, has fired staff, raised membership prices and raised new debt to survive. He said he was undertaking.
According to a June survey by the group, IHRSA member clubs across the country took on an average of $ 75,000 in new debt.
What many gyms don’t do, according to Clark, is that they offer membership discounts and can’t even attract the crowds of New Year’s resolutions.
“We were hit hard. Five and a half months after we were closed, we didn’t have much sympathy from the landlord and we didn’t have much sympathy from the government. We did everything we could. We worked with the landlord. There are some concessions, but not so many. ” Lewis B. Breslau, who owns five crunch fitness franchises in West Babylon, Belmore, Amityville, Hauppauge and East Meadow.
“And we haven’t come out of the hole yet,” he said. He said income and membership have dropped by up to 20% in some of his gyms that opened before the pandemic.
Several fitness chains such as Orangetheory Fitness, Blink Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness were happy to chat about the expansion with the media before the pandemic, but declined to comment when Newsday recently contacted them about their business situation. Did or did not respond.
24 Hour Fitness, New York Sports Club, and Gold’s Gym are one of the chains that closed some gyms after their parent filed for bankruptcy protection due to pandemic-related losses.
After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2020, 24 Hour Fitness closed 133 gyms, two on Massapequa and Bayshore’s Long Island, and three on East Meadow, East Setau Kit, and Hicksville. We have planned to open two new areas. Based in Carlsbad, California, the chain currently has approximately 280 clubs in 11 states.
Towns Sports International, a former owner of the New York Sports Club, Lucille Roberts Fitness Center and other chains, closed 118 clubs, including 12 on Long Island, after filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in September 2020. .. There are currently 68 New York Sports Club locations and most of them are under new ownership.
According to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 fitness and recreation sports centers were closed in the second quarter of 2020-2021, leaving 483 locations on Long Island.
31% closed in New York
Throughout the state, 31% of fitness centers have been completely closed since the outbreak of the pandemic, but the national average is 22%, Clark said, saying that the higher rate in New York is due to the stricter government obligations. increase.
The surviving fitness chain moved to online class and did whatever it could to keep the door open.
“Demand is back [for physical gyms and boutique fitness studios]..However, the form in which people are trying to consume fitness is more hybrid. [with in-person and online streaming workouts].. So they don’t go to the gym or studio as fast as they were, so they don’t need many of them, “says Jason Siano, founder and chief executive officer of Garden’s Saber Real Estate Advisor. It was a city. He represents several boutique fitness chains on Long Island. [solidcore] And F45.
The structure of ownership and the pre-pandemic state of the business have a lot to do with how well you can maintain your fitness business. New franchisees and supersaturated market franchises will be a more difficult time, Siano said.
He represented the F45 at Barry’s Bootcamp, which opened seven locations on Long Island since March 2020 and the first on Long Island on the outskirts of the Hamptons in August 2021.
Expansion during a pandemic
Many chains struggled during the pandemic, but Crunch Fitness found the foundation by offering virtual classes, said CEO Ben Midgley.
The Manhattan-based chain opened 40 clubs during the pandemic, including two Long Island sites, Hauppauge and Lake Grove, with overall system membership compared to pre-pandemic levels in February 2020. And increased by 31%.
“I didn’t know what would happen. I just did everything I thought was right,” Midgray said.
Helped was the company’s digital class offered through the Crunch Live platform. Prior to the pandemic, it was only available to top-notch members, but it was rolled out to all members during the health crisis, he said.
By July 2020, participants had increased by 150% daily to about 100,000 training sessions. The number decreased when the club began to reopen.
“I think people have settled down to some extent with this hybrid approach of face-to-face and online fitness,” said Midgley.
The company also exempted loyalty franchise fees to support franchisees.
The New York Sports Club has increased its cleaning procedures so that members feel safe while exercising, CEO Roger Harvey said in a statement Wednesday.
In March 2021, the club’s former parent company settled a proceeding filed by the Office of the Attorney’s Office for refusing to revoke membership when Jim was closed for several months during a pandemic.
NYSC changes include the implementation of a “customer friendly” membership policy. This gives you confidence in your ability to provide excellent training facilities and programs. We also invest in training for fitness professionals so that our members can get them. Better results, reduce their health risk factors, strengthen their immune system, and help them lead their best lives, “Harvey said.
Great help from PPP
Of the 405 clubs in Crunch Fitness in the United States and five other countries, 92% are franchises. About 75% of the franchises were able to get a paycheck protection program loan, Midgray said.
Mr. Crunch emphasized strengthening health and safety protocols for members with “excessive communication from us,” he said.
“In retrospect, we probably made 80% of the right decisions,” he said.
Crunch Fitness franchisee Breslau said his business lost half a year’s income but was able to use PPP money to pay rent and employee wages.
“Some gyms don’t do anything before the pandemic, but it’s okay,” he said.
Joel Register, 32, of Amityville, who exercises three to four times a week at Amityville’s Crunch Fitness, tried exercising at home during a shutdown, but he said he didn’t get the same results. ..
“It wasn’t the same. There was no motive,” he said.
Uniondale resident Naomi Dosawas, 26, and her husband are exercising for four months at the Amityville gym for free while waiting for a new location to open in East Meadow, near their home. She said. She said they had taken safety into consideration when choosing a gym.
“I chose crunch because I felt like I had more space than any other gym … it helps me get closer to society,” she said.
Expansion to a vacant gym
Large gyms that had sufficient capital before the closure, despite the decline of some chains and small businesses, took advantage of the vacant seats left by the closure of those gyms and other businesses. doing.
“Especially Planet Fitness and Crunch Fitness are very aggressively looking for space on Long Island to take advantage of these vacancies that may have been created,” said Jason Sobel, an agent working at the Jericho office. Said. Of Ripuko Real Estate.
Headquartered in New Hyde Park and owning 545 shopping centers and other facilities nationwide, Kimco Realty Corp. has signed Planet Fitness, a discount gym chain that leases two long island spaces since the pandemic began. One will be part of the former Fairway Market grocery store space in Plainview and the other will be the former New York Sports Club in Syosset.
Joshua Weinkranz, president of the northern region of Kymco, said: He said both new gyms will open earlier this year.
Discount gym growing in LI
Planet Fitness, a chain based in Hampton, New Hampshire, has 2,193 gyms in North America and Australia, 95% of which are franchises. Chain membership starts at $ 10 per month. We do not offer group classes.
Since March 2020, Planet Fitness has opened four corporate-owned locations on Long Island: Lake Ronkonkoma, North Babylon, Massapequa, and Commack. Currently, there are 21 locations on the island.
Planet Fitness declined to comment on its plans to expand Long Island.
Seeing that COVID doesn’t seem to go anywhere right away, many landlords are considering the possibility of a new shutdown obligation for Jim’s lease. Some tenants are negotiating provisions that allow rent reductions in the face of capacity limits. For example, if occupancy is limited to 50%, rent will be reduced by 50% until the limit is lifted, says Daniel Glazer, vice president of Ripco, Irvine, California-based long island broker. I am saying. Xponential Fitness.
Xponential’s nine boutique fitness studio chains include Pure Barre, Club Pilates and Stretch Lab.
I’m looking for a “flexologist”
Christopher Tucker, based in Northport, opened the Stretch Lab franchise in Woodbury in August 2019.
“It went into the black in February 2020. [one month before the shutdown].. It was the first month I made money. And I haven’t regained profitability, “he said.
StretchLab has nine benches, and staff offer clients one-on-one stretch sessions for $ 189- $ 620 per month, depending on the frequency of visits and the length of the session.
“When we closed, we tried to shift our focus to the virtual world …. Due to the nature of our business, few members were interested in doing this kind of thing,” he said. Told.
According to Tucker, his Stretch Lab had 230 members before the pandemic, but lost nearly half during the shutdown.
However, the bigger challenge for the business was to find a “flexologist”, a trained fitness or health professional. He said it used to be 10, but now it’s 7, which isn’t enough to handle client demand.
He said PPP money saved his business.
“Without that money, I wouldn’t have been standing,” he said.
Tory N. Parrish covers Newsday’s retail and small businesses.She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Reviews and Observers-Dispatch in Utica, NY
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