In January, the gyms are usually overcrowded.
But this year everything is different.
A studio operator is therefore now turning to the Prime Minister with a call for help.
The gyms must remain closed in the second lockdown.
No financial aid can be requested because of the membership fees.
A major problem in the future, says a Gilching studio operator.
He now turns to Prime Minister Markus Söder with a cry for help.
Gilching
- Siegfried Wodzka, operator of a sports studio in Gilching (Starnberg district), is desperate.
The owner is feeling the effects of the lockdown more and more.
That is why he recently sat down and wrote a letter to the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder.
It's a cry for help.
In it, the 53-year-old describes the precarious situation from the point of view of his “small, very personally managed fitness studio”.
In the past few months, many layoffs have been received, sooner or later bankruptcy threatens, he writes.
So far there has been no financial support from the state.
Wodzka is not alone in this concern.
Small and large fitness studios can continue to debit membership fees during lockdown and officially make sales.
Therefore, they are not allowed to apply for state aid.
In the future, however, the fitness studios will have to provide countermeasures for this upfront work by members.
And then it will run out, says Siegfried Wodzka.
Fitness studios fear creeping bankruptcy - members pay fees for nothing
In 2009 he and his wife Angela took over the Gilching sports studio, which was opened by the previous owner in 1994.
“I've been there as a trainer right from the start,” says the 53-year-old managing director.
The studio has grown very dear to him and his wife over the years.
Just like the members.
“How long can you do this to them?” He asks.
Because they are currently paying their membership fees without receiving anything in return.
In mid-November, shortly before the “Lockdown Light”, the Bavarian state government announced that fitness studios would have to close again.
The Bavarian Administrative Court had previously overturned a ban.
“The winter months and spring are our weddings,” reports Siegfried Wodzka.
Many put their good intentions into practice in January and sign a fitness contract.
This income is now completely missing.
In addition, there have been a “disproportionate number of layoffs” since the Corona crisis.
There were hardly any new contracts with those interested in sports.
Sports studio in Gilching fears bankruptcy - financial help cannot be applied for
Wodzka bought air purifiers and disinfectants for the studio.
"We are far from taking the pandemic events lightly," says the sports studio boss.
Already in the first lockdown, Wodzka wrote a cry for help to the government.
He didn't get an answer.
The Gilching sports studio cannot apply for financial help.
In contrast to service providers such as cosmetic studios, vodzka cannot prove any loss of income from one day to the other.
"There is too little to live and too much to die", summarizes the 53-year-old.
Fitness studios fear creeping bankruptcy - financial problems will come in the future
With the contributions he can pay the fixed costs such as rent and electricity.
Wodzka describes this income as a kind of "loan" from fitness members who are currently not receiving any benefits for their money.
At some point, however, the athletes would demand the contributions back, or the contract period would be extended by the months in which the fitness was closed.
This means that the company will lack further income in the future.
A “creeping process,” complains fitness trainer Wodzka.
But he is also worried about the actual opening - whenever it will be.
“Do people even come then?
Or are you scared? "And even if the business is up and running again:" I don't know when to make up for these losses. "
The Wodzka couple keep their members up to date with e-mails.
"Answers like, We'll stay true to you!"
We are of course very happy, ”says Siegfried Wodzka.
Every now and then he meets a few regular athletes on the street.
“Most of them have their mouths open when I tell them that I haven't received a single cent of support since the first lockdown,” he says.
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