Area gyms hope new year brings back customers
While trying to survive effects of pandemic, some facilities hope online offerings solidify a gym’s role in a person’s workout routine
Every year as the calendar flips to January, gyms prepare for the annual arrival of new year resolutioners.
The first few weeks of a new year are typically the busiest at fitness centers with new and lapsed returning members.
As stay-at-home orders closed fitness centers this spring, many turned to exercising outdoors or from their living rooms. Sales of at-home exercise equipment such as spin bikes and dumbbells hit record numbers. Fitness centers in the Milwaukee area reopened this summer and have slowly been regaining their clients.
“We’re probably at about 60 to 65 percent of the normal people coming through the door,” said Danny Noonan, co-owner of Brew City Cross Fit in Milwaukee. “Which is enough to keep us alive but not necessarily thriving.”
Brew City Cross Fit has put a lot of memberships on hold free of charge throughout the pandemic. Hours are the same with more, and smaller, classes on the schedule. The 15,000-square-foot gym is limiting capacity to 35 people.
“We’re just anxiously awaiting things getting back to normal,” he said. “It’s a day at a time. You hope this doesn’t drag out much longer. Where we are right now, we can stay afloat at least.”
The fitness industry has been hit hard by government shutdowns and consumer hesitation at returning to the indoor facilities where the coronavirus could spread.
Orange Theory in the Third Ward has around half the number of
customers coming through the gym compared to last year, said general manager Ashley Barwick. Two companies that operate a handful of Anytime Fitness locations in Milwaukee and the surrounding suburbs filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.
Before the pandemic, the gym and fitness industry was growing.
Life Time Fitness opened a new $47 million, 176,000-square-foot facility in Brookfield a little over a year ago.
The club had 248,299 visits between reopening this summer and the end of November. Because the club is so new, it’s tough to say how membership and visits compare to non-pandemic times, said John Dahman, general manager at Life Time Brookfield.
More than half the people who had a gym membership at the start of the pandemic will not renew, according to one survey by TD Ameritrade. Gyms have tried to revive their business with mask requirements, capacity limits and loads of sanitizer. People are returning, but not at pre-pandemic levels.
Still, nearly all fitness center users report missing at least one aspect of physically going to the gym, according to research conduct by the industry association. One of the most common reasons for missing the gym was the limited amount of equipment at home. The survey of people in the U.S. who had a gym membership when the pandemic hit this spring was completed by trade association International Health, Raquet & Sportsclub Association.
People who had returned to gyms felt confident in the fitness centers’ safety precautions. Nearly 90% of those who had returned to gyms since they reopened felt confident in the pandemic safety plans. Of those who had not returned, 55% felt confident about the precautions.
“The pandemic has changed people’s lives,” said Wisconsin Athletic Club coowner Ray O’Connor. “I think the industry is well aware of it. And we’re excited to have people back when they’re comfortable.”
Like many fitness centers, the Wisconsin Athletic Club strengthened its online offerings during the pandemic. It started a Move@Home video series for free to the public on YouTube. For members,
“The pandemic has changed people’s lives. I think the industry is well aware of it. And we’re excited to have people back when they’re comfortable.”
Ray O’Connor Wisconsin Athletic Club co-owner
the Wisconsin Athletic Club launched on-demand group fitness classes, virtual live training and personalized interactive online training.
The idea is to solidify a gym’s role in a person’s workout routine.
The equipment and experience of a club that can’t be replicated at home such as tennis courts and swimming pools has been the first areas to return, O’Connor said. The Wisconsin Athletic Club, which started in 1976, operates eight fitness centers in Milwaukee and the surrounding suburbs.
All fitness centers hope the new year brings back gym goers.
From Jan. 1 through about March 15, Bob Hahn prepares for about a 25 percent uptick in the number of people coming to Real Health & Fitness Center in Cedarburg.
Membership has grown slightly from around 3,000 members in March to about 3,100 in December. But the number of visits are down. This time last year, close to 500 people would come through the 24-hour gym on any given day. Now, it’s about 350 to 400 people a day.
Real Health & Fitness Center will end the year with revenue down about 10%, he said.
He’s optimistic that 2021 will be a better year at his gym. But so far, interest in new memberships during the holiday season hasn’t been like it was in year’s prior.
“Not the pickup that I would like to see,” he said.