Fitness
Blink Fitness to close over 100 locations following bankruptcy filing
NEW YORK — It could get harder to find an affordable gym.
Blink Fitness, the low-price gym chain with monthly memberships ranging from $15 to $45, filed for bankruptcy Monday and said it may close an unspecified number of its 101 clubs.
Blink is owned by luxury gym chain Equinox and is located primarily in cities and suburban areas in New York, New Jersey, California and Texas. Blink has more than 400,000 members.
Around 25% of US gyms and studios permanently closed during the Covid-19 pandemic – roughly 10,000 facilities, according to the Health & Fitness Association, an industry trade group. Several major chains, including 24 Hour Fitness and Gold’s Gym, filed for bankruptcy.
Blink’s bankruptcy shows the lingering impact of the pandemic on the fitness industry. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, Blink temporarily closed all of its clubs, leaving it without revenue to fund operations. Blink said in its bankruptcy filing that it is still financially constrained by rent payments it had put off and was still trying to catch up on from the pandemic. An undisclosed number of its clubs are also unprofitable.
“It’s a sign that this is an industry still going through growing pains post-Covid,” Rick Caro, the president of fitness industry consulting firm Management Vision, told CNN.
The fitness industry faces other challenges, such as consumers cutting back on discretionary spending and the rise of GLP-1 drugs used for weight loss.
Luxury gyms such as Life Time Fitness are acquiring weight loss clinics with doctors who can prescribe GLP-1s, the powerful new class of medications that have proven to be highly effective at helping people shed weight, while Equinox is designing exercise programs specifically for people taking the medications.
ALSO READ | Couple leaving behind legacy of love and wisdom as Katinka in East Village set to close
Entertainment reporter Joelle Garguilo follows the journey of beloved mom and pop shop on East 9th Street as it prepares to close its doors.
———-
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
Google’s big fitness change could impact all Android phones going forward
Manayunk gym aims to provide source of physical and mental wellness
Ga. lawmakers consider transgender sports participation issues
TNF open thread: Steelers-Browns gambling lines and picks for tonight’s game
TSA offers travel tips ahead of what could be busiest weekend on record
Musk, Ramaswamy expected to slash federal jobs, welcome ‘mass resignations’ to cut spending
Thanksgiving food shopping: Why are grocery prices so high?
Today is World Pancreatic Cancer Day
