Jumping the gun

Seems like Gold’s jumped the gun on this decision. Hard to believe a month in and they are financially crippled enough to close millions worth of locations. Unless this is speculative of how prevalent social distancing will be even after reopening. Perhaps loss of business will be far reaching. I have also heard that one of my local gyms (3 locations) may not be reopening. That would leave Planet Fitness around here.......

[url]https://www.businessinsider.com/golds-gym-closing-gyms-permanently-list-addresses-2020-4[/url]

Plenty of profitable businesses go bust every year because they ran out of cash. Any business in tourism or leisure that can survive this is likely to get a big uptick in sales once the lockdowns end. Obvious questions are if they have the cash to survive and how long this'll go on.

But equally I'd ask: were they in trouble before?

It's a Warren Buffet quote "Only when the tide goes out, do you learn who was swimming naked"

[QUOTE=meloncap78;1602922411]Seems like Gold’s jumped the gun on this decision. Hard to believe a month in and they are financially crippled enough to close millions worth of locations. Unless this is speculative of how prevalent social distancing will be even after reopening. Perhaps loss of business will be far reaching. I have also heard that one of my local gyms (3 locations) may not be reopening. That would leave Planet Fitness around here.......

[url]https://www.businessinsider.com/golds-gym-closing-gyms-permanently-list-addresses-2020-4[/url][/QUOTE]

More than likely they were drowning in debt to start with and Corona was the final kick.

[QUOTE=nitefeatherz;1603530031]More than likely they were drowning in debt to start with and Corona was the final kick.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I feel like quite a few Gold's have gone under in recent years. Both of the Gold's here in San Diego have closed up shop a few years ago. I work out at Eos, who bought one of the former Gold's locations about three or four years ago. Eos is doing fine because they're only charging $16 a month whereas the Gold's was probably charging double that.

[QUOTE=xTeTe;1603673171] Eos is doing fine because they're only charging $16 a month whereas the Gold's was probably charging double that.[/QUOTE]

this is something I don't understand. Whoever can pay 16$ a month could probably pay double or triple that. Price war in fitness doesn't do any good for end user because mediocricy is kind of becomes imbedded into the very business model.

[QUOTE=weiss1967;1603703481]this is something I don't understand. Whoever can pay 16$ a month could probably pay double or triple that. Price war in fitness doesn't do any good for end user because mediocricy is kind of becomes imbedded into the very business model.[/QUOTE]

This is a fair point. But, I guess it probably helped start a mad rush for new members. Maybe the revenue they brought in is enough to keep higher level of service. The staff and the programs are good there.. thus far and that would probably be the biggest determining factor in the difference. Seeing as though the facilities are pretty much exactly the same as it was before other than Eos painting their colors all over the place.

I will say this though, you can get a good feel for who are newer members there as opposed to the holdovers from Gold's. The place is full of fratty behavior with people that are there to socialize and upload to their social media accounts than actually work out. It really wasn't like that at all when it was Gold's.

[QUOTE=weiss1967;1603703481]this is something I don't understand. Whoever can pay 16$ a month could probably pay double or triple that. Price war in fitness doesn't do any good for end user because mediocricy is kind of becomes imbedded into the very business model.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. My last gym in Switzerland was about 1000 USD per year (they didn’t do monthly subscriptions) but it was quality. Now I have my own home gym, but I wouldn’t want to go for the cheapest and be the first on that slope to the bottom...