Fitness International, Gold’s Gym, Lifetime Fitness, SoulCycle, Orangetheory, Equinox, Barry’s Bootcamp, Flywheel Sports and Rumble are among the many fitness chains announcing temporary closures in the face of the coronavirus.
“Never did we imagine a day where we’d have to close the doors to 99 studios and countless riders who turn to SoulCycle for a safe space,” SoulCycle’s Interim CEO Sunder Reddy said in an Instagram announcement. “During this critical time, keeping our riders, instructors and studio teams safe is our absolute top priority.”
Reddy did not state a specified re-opening date. “We’ll get through this the same way we get through everything else: together.”
Equinox Clubs’ chairman Harvey Spevak wrote on Instagram, “The COVID-19 health crisis is presenting challenges that are unprecedented in our lifetime … Be safe, remain healthy, and we look forward to welcoming you back into our clubs as quickly as possible.”
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Gold’s Gym announced on Instagram, “At Gold’s Gym we choose humanity with this decision. We’re stronger together and as a global fitness community and appreciate your support at this time.”
Lifetime Fitness said in a statement, “Based on recent orders and advisories from federal, state and local governmental authorities regarding COVID-19, all of our Life Time clubs will be closing no later than 8 p.m. tonight in each time zone. The length of this temporary closure is dependent upon governmental guidance. We will update you with a reopening date for your club and your account will be credited for the number of days the club is closed. Our entire organization is committed to your health and well-being. We will be sharing regular communication with you. Importantly, stay tuned for my next communication, which I hope to release soon. We are tirelessly working to see how we can help you and our communities in any way we can, including whether we can repurpose our facilities to become a resource or service centers for our members. We hope to communicate with you quickly on our plans.”
Fitness International, LLC, operator of L.A. Fitness, City Sports Clubs, Esporta, said in a statement, “We are deeply concerned for the health of our members and employees during this COVID 19 crisis. We feel it is our responsibility to do what we can to reduce the spread of the virus and with that as our guide, have made the difficult decision to close all of our clubs to the public today, March 16 until April 1 and City Sports Clubs until April 7. We know that closing clubs is difficult for our millions of loyal members, too. We encourage them to continue to exercise from home and look forward to being open for them soon.”
In a letter to members, Orangetheory CEO David Long and president David Carney said the closure “is not a decision we made lightly. We have taken significant precautions across our brand to keep our members and employees safe while continuing to offer our workouts. However, as this situation continues to evolve rapidly, we believe that temporarily closing is the right thing to do.”
The letter stated a March 31 goal to re-open.
Photo courtesy Gold’s Gym
