Many industries have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, however one industry in particular that continues to feel the accumulated stress of the pandemic is the brick and mortar gym industry.
Without attendees regularly flowing in and out of locations, monthly incomes for locations both small and large have been throttled, and for some this revenue has nearly vanished. Yesterday, Gold’s Gym announced that they would be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
However, Gold’s Gym President and CEO Adam Zeitsiff stated in a press release shared by Business Insider that they would not going out of business.
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Currently, Gold’s Gym has over 700 locations that span the globe, and the latest bankruptcy news comes closely behind an April announcement that they would be closing 30 company-owned locations. It’s worth noting that the 30 gyms that will be closing are once again company-owned and not involved with franchise locations.
In Business Insider’s article, Zietsiff goes on the record, saying,
“To be clear, the filing should not impact our licensing division, it is not associated with any of our locally-owned franchise gyms, nor will it prevent us from continuing to support our system of nearly 700 gyms around the world. While the COVID-19 pandemic certainly impacted our company-owned gym operations, we expect the filing will have no further impact on current operations.”
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection entails a business filing for bankruptcy when in need of a reorganization of debts and affairs. Often times, businesses will file for this form of bankruptcy protection when time is needed to restructure their business, processes, and debt.
This is somewhat good news for all the Gold’s Gym attendees across the globe, however, it’s a stark reminder of how hard the global pandemic has hit the fitness industry.
As of right now, Gold’s Gym plans to reopen locations slowly with increased cleaning and occupancy guidelines based off of government recommendations and landlord permission.
Featured image from Gold’s Gym Instagram page.
