GYMS

➡ With Governor Cuomo’s blessing, gyms in New York City have finally reopened, and I returned to mine on September 10 for my first gym workout in six months. It was weird—no showers, no group fitness classes, masks on at all times, reservations required. This also means I paid my gym-membership dues for the first time in six months, a choice many members will pass on given the reduced amenities and the new routines they formed during the shutdown. The pandemic has already pushed two major gym chains—Gold's Gym and 24 Hour Fitness—into bankruptcy. Group-fitness studios are in an even tougher spot, with a business model that seems almost designed to spread respiratory viruses. But one thing going for them is the overall weakness of retail—landlords have reason to work with their nonpaying fitness tenants, because who’s going to take over their spaces if they’re evicted?