San Mateo County gyms flex new muscles to stay open

When the pandemic hit, of course, that changed everything.

On March 17, San Mateo entered the orange tier and allowed fitness gyms to reopen indoors at 25% capacity. But nearly a year of shutdowns and restrictions called for creative solutions from local gym owners, and some say that the new business models might be here to stay.

Rolling with the punches

“It’s so funny because I always told myself boxing training needs to be done in the gym,” Solis said.

Like many of his peers, however, he didn’t have a choice but to pivot — 80% of the gym’s funds disappeared with the onset of the pandemic.

He launched a virtual program within weeks of the first shelter-in-place order and was pleasantly surprised to see that 20 people signed up and prepaid. But when it was time for class, only three students showed up.

“Turns out people just sent money to support us,” Solis said.

Despite never asking for donations, former and current students started sending him money “left and right.” As a show of support, people also started buying the gym’s branded hoodies and T-shirts, and demand was so high that Solis eventually purchased his own T-shirt printer.

He credits the community’s support and passion for boxing to his gym’s survival. To accompany the virtual classes, Solis also released an on-demand video library of boxing techniques initially intended as “homework” of sorts for current students.

“But that virtual library has brought in over 17 new members,” he said. “These are people we never would’ve gotten if not for [the videos].” That includes students from as far away as Marin County and Turlock in the Central Valley.

Outdoor classes were introduced in July in parks and parking lots, which has been a hit with students who enjoy being out in the fresh air. It’s also increased the gym’s capacity by allowing classes to be taught both outdoors and indoors. Revenue has stabilized so much through the virtual video and merchandise income that Solis says he’s now rethinking the gym’s entire business model.

“Now I’m like, we don’t need to pack classes anymore,” he said. “We’ve thought of different ways to earn money.”

Live virtual classes are paused for now because Solis wants to focus his energy on the newly resumed in-person classes, but the gym already has three on-demand virtual programs filmed and ready to go.

Solis isn’t worried that the pandemic-induced shift to virtual has affected demand for in-person classes.

“The boxing community was trying to get into the gym when it was closed. The boxing community will go fight in the park,” he said. “The boxing community is a different breed.”

A quick fix

Other fitness gyms, however, were left with comparatively fewer ways to pivot.

If you ever happen to be cruising down El Camino Real in San Mateo at 4 a.m., you might be greeted with a curious sight: Employees in activewear lugging exercise machines, weights and slabs of fake grass into the parking lot in front of Fitness19.

When the pandemic hit, the San Mateo gym was shut down for six months straight before the county temporarily lifted indoor restrictions in September.

“It was something we’ve never had to do,” said regional operator Vinnie Dominick. “We typically stay open 364 days of the year — Christmas is the only day that we close.”

Numerous members froze or canceled their memberships, slashing the gym’s income despite its recurring rent and utility expenses. The reopening only lasted two months before gyms were shut down again, but luckily, Fitness19 was prepared to open its own outdoor gym in November.

It hasn’t been easy, however, or affordable.

“The expenses are so much higher when it comes to cleaning products and sanitation,” Dominick said. “We’ve also had to spend money on security for the outdoor gym.”

Numerous hand sanitizer stations are set up both outdoors and indoors, and the gym also invested in sanitizing supplies for members to wipe down their machines before and after each use. While the majority of members are compliant with the gym’s safety policies, Dominick said that there have still been challenges.

“People don’t want to be told to put a mask on or wear a mask,” he said, adding that he has employees stand on-call to sanitize machines that weren’t cleaned thoroughly.

Opening indoors at 25% while still maintaining the outdoor gym has helped Fitness19 bounce back a bit, but the increased expenses and limited capacity still haven’t been easy to manage.

“It’s been challenging, very challenging, to operate our health clubs during this time,” Dominick said. “We’re looking to hopefully get to a point where we see more of our customers come back.”

Stretching the limits

Peacebank Yoga co-owner Emily Moore remembers being in the middle of a haircut when the first shelter-in-place order was issued last March.

“I think my first reaction was, ‘What’s a couple weeks?’” she said.

When it became clear that the shutdown was going to be much, much longer, the Redwood City yoga studio quickly shifted gears. Within a few days of the shutdown, instructors began hosting Zoom classes. For the first few months, demand was high and attendance was nearly half of what it was during prepandemic times — but then Zoom fatigue set in.

“We pretty much dropped all of our evening classes,” Moore said.

The studio shifted gears again by expanding its existing yoga in the park program. That initially enjoyed high demand as well, but then the California wildfires hit. Shortly after the fire season ended, the cold winter weather set in.

The pandemic challenged the studio and its community in more ways, however, than purely financial.

“Yoga is what we turn to when the rest of the world around us is crumbling. We’ve created this space for people to come together as a community for mental health as well as physical health. And that was shut down,” Moore said.

For Moore, one of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to re-create that restorative community space within the bounds of pandemic restrictions. The community was just as committed to Peacebank — the studio only lost 10 out of its 50 full memberships over the course of the pandemic.

That goal necessitated expensive investments that initially gave Moore some pause, considering the studio is currently operating at less than 30% of its usual revenue. To introduce on-demand instructional videos, Peacebank invested in an entire in-studio recording setup: a high-quality camera, laptop and lighting. Then, it also invested in HEPA filters for the main AC unit to prepare for indoor classes.

“Thank goodness for credit cards,” Moore said.

Despite the endless challenges of the pandemic, including numerous pivots and costly investments, Moore said she’s committed to providing a safe space for members to practice yoga — even if reopening with restrictions isn’t the most profitable decision right now.

“We have this incredible space that’s much more important than just the financial piece of it. It’s a place where people come to take one hour to themselves,” Moore said. “If they’re going to give themselves one hour of the day and they choose our instructors and space, how can we not open up for them?”

But she also points out that the video-based expenses are long-term investments, especially considering the big shift to virtual that the yoga industry saw this year.

“Our tentative plan going forward is to still have a great majority of our classes live streamed as well as [provide] on-demand videos,” Moore said. “I think virtual yoga is here to stay.”