Golds Gym declares bankruptcy...

[Big Vin]

"Gold's Gym filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, becoming the latest business to pursue restructuring amid coronavirus-related business disruptions."

I know they closed several locations here in TX..but apparently will still operate..for now. They have a shitload of debt though.

Gold's Gym has filed for bankruptcy protection after closing locations amid the coronavirus outbreak

Gold's Gym referred to coronavirus-related business disruptions in its announcement about its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[beverast]

Not the first, and sadly not the last. Don't get me wrong, but I don't understand how large businesses that have been around for decades upon decades can run into such liquidity troubles after being inoperable for a few weeks. Our small time company here would've had cash reserves for wages and fixed cost for nearly a full business year (not that we'd want to touch that money). Our daily operations run in the red as well, but we always have accounts receivable to the tune of at least double the current debt.

 

[NGL34]

Not the first, and sadly not the last. Don't get me wrong, but I don't understand how large businesses that have been around for decades upon decades can run into such liquidity troubles after being inoperable for a few weeks. Our small time company here would've had cash reserves for wages and fixed cost for nearly a full business year (not that we'd want to touch that money). Our daily operations run in the red as well, but we always have accounts receivable to the tune of at least double the current debt.

I have no idea how much Golds charges for membership but im sure its more than other gym chains charging $10/ month who offer almost the same equipment and amenities. My guess is that they have been losing memberships for some time now.

 

[Ashop]

Sign of the times. Your going to see other gyms do the same unfortunately. The gym business is already tough enough and then throw a pandemic in the mix.

 

[danieltx]

Not the first, and sadly not the last. Don't get me wrong, but I don't understand how large businesses that have been around for decades upon decades can run into such liquidity troubles after being inoperable for a few weeks. Our small time company here would've had cash reserves for wages and fixed cost for nearly a full business year (not that we'd want to touch that money). Our daily operations run in the red as well, but we always have accounts receivable to the tune of at least double the current debt.

Their collapse really has little to do with coronavirus, their finances had been bad for years. The coronavirus-mandated shutdown was just the nail in the coffin. 24 Hour Fitness is weighing bankruptcy for the same reason, their prior years of financial mismanagement have them on the ropes now.

 

[FrancisK]

They may be blaming it on the virus but this was coming anyway the virus just sped it up....

 

[inoverdrive]

Hate to see the loss that Lifetime is taking now

 

[BigGame]

There's no Gold Gyms in my area. They left about 10 years ago. I'm concerned about the local gyms in my area though.

 

[TheOtherOne55]

The concern is mostly for the people who CANCELLED their memberships due to the virus. Which personally, i refused to do.

BOTH gyms i belong to are smaller local ones in CA. I know both of the owners and after hearing people say, "oh hell no, I'm saving that $60 per month." i just couldn't do it. The more people who cancelled, the higher likelihood the gyms would go under. Blame dumb gym goers.

 

[qbkilla]

I'll put the blame on government, not the fault of members or gyms.

 

[UnderConstruction]

Idk how much of this true, but I believed them. According to the owners at one of the gyms I belong to, it's the cancellations and freezing that started the pain before the lockdown even started here. When the lockdown was announced and it was only for 10 days, it wasn't that much more of a problem until it was extended and one of the big billing agencies for gyms shut down all billing. So, even the members like me that chose to keep paying to be helpful weren't being billed after a certain point but the gyms are still having to pay rent and insurance... And now that they can bill again, ppl are calling for cancellations, refunds, and prorated billing. This particular gym supposedly has $34k a month rent... Without payroll, group fitness costs, and lessened utilities they still paid out $57k for April with no income.

No way I would want to deal with that. Just hope they can stay open now that we're allowed back. He said if the state closes back down they're gone for good

 

[muscle96ss]

Hate to see the loss that Lifetime is taking now

I'm also going to hate to see the increase in membership cost or decrease in quality we are going to see to pay for it. I have been a member for 15 years and hope they can survive without having to pass the buck onto the customers.

 

[m314]

I hope they keep the locations here open. Gold's in Long Beach is small but decent with a good price. Gold's in Venice might be my all time favorite gym.

 

[danieltx]

Idk how much of this true, but I believed them. According to the owners at one of the gyms I belong to, it's the cancellations and freezing that started the pain before the lockdown even started here. When the lockdown was announced and it was only for 10 days, it wasn't that much more of a problem until it was extended and one of the big billing agencies for gyms shut down all billing. So, even the members like me that chose to keep paying to be helpful weren't being billed after a certain point but the gyms are still having to pay rent and insurance... And now that they can bill again, ppl are calling for cancellations, refunds, and prorated billing. This particular gym supposedly has $34k a month rent... Without payroll, group fitness costs, and lessened utilities they still paid out $57k for April with no income.

No way I would want to deal with that. Just hope they can stay open now that we're allowed back. He said if the state closes back down they're gone for good

This was to a good degree a no-win situation for gyms.

I must state that I find it appalling how big chain gyms totally shut down before being mandated to. Given the overwhelming scientific evidence on how resistance training and other forms of exercise improve the immune system and overall health, they could've made a good case for staying open with reduced capacity. Prevention - being in good health - is the best way to avoid contracting coronavirus.

With their decision to immediately close down before they were mandated to, they had no choice but to stop billing. If they continued, there are good grounds for a class-action lawsuit given members would be billed for services they have no way to access. And the idea of deferring billings for a period and adding those months on to the end of your contract isn't valid when they have no clue when they'll open, plus it hurts the masses of people who lost jobs and now desperately need every bit of extra money each month. The cost of fighting a class-action suit combined with the economic destruction of shutting clubs down would guarantee more chain gym bankruptcies.

 

[FrancisK]

During the recession there was a huge gym boom because people were broke so they said fuck it and worked on their bodies, but instead of giant all encompassing gyms with every amenity the little strip mall gyms with the $10 memberships starting popping up everywhere. Well the gym boom ended with the economic recovery so people aren't going nearly as much because they have other options and business overhead has also increased exponentially since then, anyone who owns a business knows what I'm talking about. The strip mall gyms have been closing left and right only one out of 10 will survive and large mega gyms will follow suit, as they already are doing that. Even for my YMCA there have been rumors of closing and they get funding from everywhere and isn't based on the weight room, but then again 90% of the people in there probably qualify for a free membership but that's a whole other topic.

A gym is a huge investment, think about what the equipment costs not to even mention the space needed and I can only imagine how much the insurance alone costs. The last thing I would investment my money into is a gym and the gym is obviously a passion of mine, but passion don't pay the bills brotha.....

Planet fitness has been opening up locations though their model to cater to lazy people who have hardheartedly workout seems to have worked out well, if I have to start going there it's going to be a dark day and it might just happen....haha.

 

[MonkeyBoy]

Not the first, and sadly not the last. Don't get me wrong, but I don't understand how large businesses that have been around for decades upon decades can run into such liquidity troubles after being inoperable for a few weeks. Our small time company here would've had cash reserves for wages and fixed cost for nearly a full business year (not that we'd want to touch that money). Our daily operations run in the red as well, but we always have accounts receivable to the tune of at least double the current debt.

This is how I feel about the airlines, how does a few months kill you when you been making $$ for all these years and yeah, we know you DICK heads at the top just re buy your stock. They get a bailout but they need to pay it back.

Sad times - hate to see this to any business

 

[alfresco]

My opinion.

Total and complete incomprehensible, irresponsible leadership. How any business could
take a world wide recognizable brand and run it into the ground is beyond me. And you
don't have to know anything about the gym business to know this. It is as obvious as the
nose on your face. Totally mismanaged.

They could have literally dominated the gym business worldwide, could been a business
model that would have been the envy to all. Instead they managed to hang themselves
with their own shoelaces.

Really sad.

 

[lookslikesausage]

Ed Connors said today on rxmuscle that the Gold's that have been closed were the corporate owned locations and that they were the ones who were really sinking, not so much the franchise owners.

 

[MonkeyBoy]

Ed Connors said today on rxmuscle that the Gold's that have been closed were the corporate owned locations and that they were the ones who were really sinking, not so much the franchise owners.

Here in Wa, the 2 golds gyms I went to changed over to 425 Fitness last year. I think Golds was probably charging them way to much for the name and now look what is happening.

 

[maldorf]

Here in Wa, the 2 golds gyms I went to changed over to 425 Fitness last year. I think Golds was probably charging them way to much for the name and now look what is happening.

Thats what happened here around 15 years ago. A wealthy guy here owned about 4 Gold's Gyms and dropped the franchise, changed the name to one of his own creation. About 5 years or so after that he just closed them all and got out of the gym business completely. That was about the time that Planet Fitness moved in.