CLUB Aquarius owner John Hollywood said there has been a silver lining to the forced closure of his two centres.
The club’s main fitness centre on Fifteenth Street and its wellness centre on Eleventh Street were forced to shut on March 23, as social distancing restrictions ramped up in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Hollywood said he and his 38 staff were given only 20 hours to orchestrate a full shut down, which was a major challenge.
But he said there had been some positive aspects to the closures, such as time to work on the club’s new Irymple site and a chance for staff to take a well deserved break.
“We’ve had our ups and downs like everyone else has but we’re hanging in there and starting to see the positives in this,” he said.
“We’ve been spending time servicing every piece of equipment in our gyms, we’re painting walls, we’re bringing in other stuff we’ve ordered.
“And our staff get a good rest, which I’m really happy about. We’re just trying to do things so that when people come back, it’s improved.”
The gym has also been hosting audio visual classes for both members and the general public to engage with on a daily basis.
“We’ll probably keep them going to some extent,” Mr Hollywood said.
“The system for us is really good because users can go back and play it back later or save their favourite classes.
“We even had a lady from Argentina send us a picture of her doing one of our classes that a friend had sent to her.”
He said although only about nine per cent of the club’s client base were interacting with the content, it had received a positive response.
“A lot of our clients have been rapt with the classes,” he said.
“We’ve been doing barre, yoga and butts’n’guts, all the classes you could possibly do in your house.
“People have been really responsive and loving it.”
He said despite the significant toll the pandemic has taken on the business, he was looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead.
“It’s been a really tough period for us, with all the uncertainty and having the business closed down, but I really believe the other side of it is going to be fantastic,” he said.
“We’ll struggle for the first few months, but then I think we’ll have some of the busiest times we’ve ever had.
“I think we’re all excited about just getting back to work.”
