While many gyms and restaurants are preparing to reopen across Saskatchewan on Monday, some local businesses are still struggling with the financial pressures of the provincial guidelines.
Tracy Read, who owns Readiness Fitness in Regina, says limiting workout class sizes to only 10 people wouldn’t be feasible for her small gym when it normally has classes of 30 and even up to 50 people at a time.
“Financially it could take us three to five times longer to put through the same amount of people that we did pre-COVID pandemic,” Read said.
While other gyms are reopening at limited capacity, Readiness Fitness will keep the physical doors closed and continue offering online workout classes to clients at home for the time being.
Through the online platform with Zoom classes and pre-recorded video workouts, the gym has managed to keep 60 per cent of its paying membership. The remaining 40 per cent are either giving notice to cancel or going on hold until they can return to regular in-person workouts.
For Read, the future is still very uncertain and she is concerned about never hearing health officials explain exactly what it will take to lift restrictions for businesses like hers that depend more on large groups.
“What do the numbers have to be before we can get back to full capacity?” Read said.
Read said if physical distancing of two metres between every person becomes the new normal standard, she is not sure if her gym will ever be able to reopen and make the business feasible with the overhead costs.