The Malaysian Insight

POST-COVID recovery has not been great for gyms, with many contemplating permanent closures in the coming months, owners said. 

They said business has not picked up as much as it should after they were allowed to operate again. 

They now said more gyms are expected to shut down in the coming months due to continuing operational costs that have increased with Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) and the lack of customers. 

Gymnasium Entrepreneurs Association Malaysia president Krishnakumar Kalimuthu said 15% of gyms have already shut down, and he expects another 10% to follow suit in the coming months. 

The association has more than 2,000 members nationwide.

“There’s a huge number of gyms that are barely surviving and may shut down anytime soon,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

He said business was still not back to what it was before the pandemic.

“Our business dropped about 40% and it does not seem like it will get better any time soon. 

“Most of us are still surviving because we can still afford to pay off the rent and salaries, but we are not making profits,” he said. 

He added that one of the factors gyms were shutting down was because owners have used all their savings and could not afford to pay for rent now.

“Now that the moratorium period has also ended, it led many owners to shut down their gyms,” said Krishnakumar. 

He added gym owners also have to fork out cash in order to comply with the SOP.

“We need to provide more towels, constantly buy hand sanitisers and also hire an employee just to monitor the SOP. 

“All that will cost us an extra 20%,” he said. 

Krishnakumar also said their patrons were also staying away due to fear of Covid-19 infections.

“There is a sense of fear among the people that the gym is not a safe place.” 

Meanwhile, the owner of One More Rep in Sri Serdang, Baharin Nasir, said there’s been a decrease in customers ever since the number of Covid-19 cases went up to hit five digits.

“Initially towards the end of last year, the customers were slowly increasing but this year it’s been decreasing. 

“I am somehow still surviving but I don’t know whether the situation is going to get worse or better in the coming months,” he said. 

Baharin also agreed that gyms were struggling to pay the extra costs in order to comply with the SOP. 

“For a gym that does not have proper ventilation, it will cost a huge sum to get it fixed,” he said.

Owner of Pantheon Fitness Solutions in Klang, Ooi Choon Ee, said that his gym has also faced a drop in the number of customers. 

“Once the Covid-19 cases hit five digits, that was the beginning of customers avoiding gyms,” he said. 

He feared that if people don’t show up in the next couple of months, he might have to shut down his gym. 

Malaysia yesterday recorded 26,250 fresh infections. 

The number of cases yesterday was the lowest in the past 11 days, during which Malaysia reported an all-time single-day high of 33,406 cases on March 5. 

The latest figure brings the total number of infections in the country since the onset of the epidemic to 3.8 million. – March 14, 2022.