Closure talk exercises gym owners’ minds

It’s been a week since Adam Hrehoresin has welcomed clients back to his small gym in Melbourne’s west, and already he’s wondering how long it will last.

Adam Hrehoresin trains Sam Sonogan in his boutique gym, Bodytek, at Sunshine, in Melbourne’s west. Picture: Aaron Francis

It’s been barely a week since fitness trainer Adam Hrehoresin has been able to welcome clients back to his small gym in Melbourne’s west, and already he’s wondering how long it will last.

Mr Hrehoresin and wife Emma own Bodytek health and fitness studio in Sunshine in the Brimbank municipality, which, with 32 active cases of the coronavirus, has been declared a hotspot.

After a spike in COVID-19 infections in recent days — 90 at the weekend, a further 75 on Monday — talk of a return to previous restrictions, which forced gyms to close for three months, has the couple “extremely nervous”.

“For the past seven years, this business has been our life,” Ms Hrehoresin said. “We lost 40 per cent of our members overnight and yet all our overheads stayed practically the same.

“Each month, you’re spending more than what’s coming in and you can only sustain that for a time.

“If we were told again that we had to shut down, it would be disastrous.”

Mr Hrehoresin recalled the stress of hearing the news late on March 22 that they would have to close the gym from midday the next day.

The couple, who have three children aged four and under, worked many late nights to try to effectively recreate their business.

In a bid to remain viable, they switched to providing daily virtual classes for clients who retained their memberships.

To prepare for an eventual reopening, which was granted from June 22, a new online booking and client management system had to be adopted, in addition to new rigorous cleaning practices.

Protecting the health and ­safety of their staff and clients, who they described as being like an ­extended family, weighs ­heavily. While gyms are permitted to have 20 people to an indoor space, Bodytek has decided to cap its fitness classes at 10.

“The hardest part throughout this has always been that element of the unknown and how this situation would play out,” Mr Hrehoresin said. “Not knowing when we would reopen and hoping, hoping, hoping.

“I really just hope it doesn’t happen again — it would be a kick in the guts.”