Equinox’s Blink Fitness files for bankruptcy as gyms feel the postpandemic strain

No gain, more pain… After a slew of early pandemic bankruptcies, gym chains are feeling the burn. Blink Fitness, Equinox’s lower-cost offshoot, filed for bankruptcy yesterday. Blink has 100+ US locations, 2K employees, and 440K+ paying members. It said it would keep its doors open and treadmills running while it looks for a buyer to deadlift it out of bankruptcy.

• Empty benches: Blink blamed its woes on the pandemic, which forced it to close for nine months. It’s racked up $280M in debt. This year, Blink made multimillion-dollar upgrades to its most-visited gyms.

• Joining the club: 24 Hour Fitness, Gold’s Gym, and Town Sports International all went bankrupt in 2020 and ’21. Home-fitness company Bowflex filed for Chapter 11 in March, and Peloton’s slashing its expenses as demand spins down.

• Eucalyptus towels: Things are going better for Blink’s bougie owner, Equinox, which said its revenue grew 27% last year. This year, the luxury chain began offering a $40K/year longevity-focused membership.

Gyms are feeling sore… and it’s not just from the pandemic. The FTC is finalizing “click to cancel” rules that would require companies to make ending a membership as easy as signing up (gyms are notoriously difficult to ditch). There are also weight-loss drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, which some analysts worry could shrink elliptical demand. Another issue: Gen Z crowding. Younger gym-goers are showing up in higher numbers, packing locations and causing more churn for companies like Planet Fitness (which relies on a majority of its members not actually using the gym).