Members of New York Sports Clubs, the fitness chain that warned it’s close to bankruptcy, woke this week to find that an automated monthly charge for dues has been fully reinstated as the gyms partially reopen, Bloomberg News reported. The club’s owner, Town Sports International Inc., billed its members for full September dues despite the gyms’ limited operating hours and reduced capacity. The charges are drawing ire from some members and facing fresh scrutiny from the New York attorney general, who in April struck a deal forcing the company to credit thousands of members for the weeks they’d been barred from the facilities during the early stage of the pandemic. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo gave fitness centers in the state the OK to reopen, though locations must limit capacity at 33 percent, require masks and meet strict ventilation guidelines. With gym-going hardly back to normal, some members were surprised to face full dues charges on short notice. Pandemic-related closures hit the chain hard, but even before COVID-19, Town Sports was struggling to adapt to changing tastes that had consumers gravitating from mid-priced gyms to alternatives like boutique fitness studios. The company said on Tuesday that it may file for bankruptcy “in the near future” to restructure its debt if negotiations with lenders fail.
