A local yoga and fitness centre is feeling the effects of the new limits under the province’s yellow or Protect stage.
Gyms and fitness studios are limited to ten people indoors or 25 people outdoors in classes. For classes, people must be spaced three metres apart.
Erin May is the owner of the Bodymind Centre and says they’ve had to reduce their class sizes to allow for more room between clients. Since June, clients have been spaced two metres apart.
“We are once again going to three metres, so that takes another third out of our spaces,” she notes.
Fewer clients means less revenue to pay the studio’s bills and rent.
May says some other small studios still haven’t reopened since the initial shutdowns in March. She expects others could be struggling to get by.
“Some of the smaller studios are just doing private classes, like one-on-one or three people to one teacher, and that’s all they’ve been able to do with that two metre distancing. So I’m not sure exactly what will happen now that it’s three metres,” she says.
The change from two to three metres of distance has required the studio to cut its Pilates equipment from eight machines to four.
“All the classes are full normally, and now we have to actually bump people out of those classes,” May adds.
