After the epidemic, many physical gyms ushered in a wave of closures, the most well-known of which is the absconding of the founder of Fanyin Yoga. Unexpectedly, a year later, SPACE Fitness, a high-end boutique gym in China, issued a "Notice" to members and property owners, announcing that the company would enter liquidation in accordance with the law. On May 1, the property owners of stores including Beijing Guomao SPACE issued a notice announcing the closure of stores. The sudden news shocked all teachers and members. Why did a gym with a good reputation and normal operation suddenly close down?
On April 30, 2024, one copy of the Notice of Space's bankruptcy and closure was issued to members, and the other was issued to property units. That night, every teacher's membership group exploded, and the teacher who was still teaching that day was still in a state of unaware. The notice seems to be a sincere apology, but in fact, it is just a false shot, and does not mention any details of the member's refund.
Source: Space Official
In the evening of the same day, the "rights protection group" organized by the members was quickly established, and some members made excel sheets to collect everyone's basic information and losses. In Beijing, for example, more than 1,000 people filled in the specific amount of losses, ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands. Lily is a five-year member of Space, and her card is automatically charged every month, just a few days before for the next month, with only two classes. Nothing loses more than the kind of members who have just prepaid their annual pass and have not yet opened it.
Lily told this magazine that she is not a person who is willing to buy a card to recharge consumption, especially after the epidemic, many stores are closed, and the merchants who run away go to the empty building, there is no way at all, but she is willing to apply for a card in Space, the reason is that Space's class bags and monthly card settings are relatively reasonable, and there is not much pressure for thousands of dollars. If you don't use it up within the validity period, you can also book a lesson for other members in the Space group. Member Edde also mentioned that she has a group dedicated to Advent courses. It can be said that Space's classes are hard currency that can be directly realized among members, and temporary classes are only 10-20 yuan cheaper than normal classes.
In Bonnie's impression, the annual pass is not the main feature of Space, but just a month before the collapse, many members mentioned that Space is vigorously promoting the annual pass, and the discount is very attractive, so there is a situation where many people have not yet opened the annual pass. This is where many activists are most angry, and they harvested the last wave of leeks before they went bankrupt.
Source: Space Official
In addition to everyone communicating with each other and discussing rights protection countermeasures, more people in the rights protection group are expressing their memories and reluctance about Space. I have to say that this is the special feature of Space, it not only creates a sports + social atmosphere, but more importantly, it brings members a sense of belonging, you will feel that the people who come here have highly similar characteristics, such as work type, aesthetic characteristics, hobbies and so on. Edde said that in the past few years, he has met interesting new friends here, encouraging each other during class, sharing with each other after class, and even meeting for dinner. There are many members who have a special affection for Space, and many people call it a "source of happiness" or "emotional tree hole" after work.
Bonnie has been a member of Space for six years, and its existence is already an inherent habit of Bonnie. Every Tuesday after the meeting, Bonnie would invite her colleagues to Sanlitun for class, have a cup of coffee at the bakery downstairs, and buy breakfast for the next day after class. If a friend asks for dinner, Bonnie will also make an appointment in Sanlitun, and in order to calm the guilt of having a meal for a while, she will often have a class to talk about masturbation. Since Space's class bags are common to all venues, even if you are traveling to Shanghai, you can find a familiar sense of security in a gym in an unfamiliar city, so you won't lose your fitness halfway. Three-, five-, or even eight-year-old members like Bonnie abound, and many of the people in the activist group are nodding acquaintances or "familiar faces" in offline classes.
In the rights protection group, members are most concerned about where to go to exercise in the future, and what will happen to the unemployed instructors of Space. There are teachers of different nationalities in the space, and some classes are even taught in English. Although there is a regular set of class templates, each teacher has a different style and has a strong personal charm.
A still from "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel".
Bonnie remembers that in previous years, appointments had to be made early, and some popular classes even had dozens of people on standby. There are many types of courses, including spinning, yoga, ballet, boxing, Hiit, etc., although the name is similar to that of other group class gyms, but old members who have been to other places have reported that the class style here is unique. Especially like Scult Yoga, which is a combination of yoga and cardiopulmonary training, it is very suitable for white-collar practitioners after work, which not only has the soothing and lifting function of yoga, but also can moderately increase some exercise intensity. Bonnie is not a member who likes to add the contact information of the coach, but here she has added the WeChat of some teachers who often attend classes, and she is like a friend.
Bonnie is not alone in this kind of group class gym in Beijing with a good atmosphere, and she understands that some people say that the collapse of Space is like a very new kind of cliff-like breakup - knowing that it is a breakup, but using the most undignified way. It's like a man who has been planning to break up with you for a long time, swept away all his belongings, and left only a letter saying sorry.
Space's collapse may seem sudden, but it was foreshadowed. Teacher Xiaomei (pseudonym) recalled that although the teacher's salary was not paid for the last month, the teacher's social security payment has been cut off since November 2023, but out of trust and affection for the company, the teacher did not raise any objection to it. Edde said that according to her observations, many of the broken equipment in Space in the past year have not been repaired in a timely manner, and the microphones, air conditioners, lights, and faucets in the shower room are not only old and have not been updated, etc., and this decline has been revealed early. Another member who once encountered Fanyin running away mentioned that she had a hunch that Space would not work, because the official WeChat had been pushing her information to upgrade the most expensive lesson package. But as an ordinary consumer, these so-called "harbingers" are nothing less than speculation with hindsight. Now click on Space's class appointment mini program, and you can also see the activities of inviting international masters to the venue, and the time is even scheduled for October.
Stills from "If the Years Could Go Back".
Why did such a gym, which is considered by the industry to be the "ceiling of high-quality group classes", end up like this?
Since its inception in 2015, Space has had strong ambitions to change the gym model. At that time, it was the time when domestic group class brands were fighting one after another, although Super Gorilla (2014) and Leke (2015) were established before Space, but the latter broke into the fitness market like a dark horse, and soon had a group of high-net-worth white-collar supporters. Matthew Allison, the founder of Space, the former founder of Sony Music Taiwan and China and the president of EMI Records Asia Pacific, said he wanted to explore a "music-centric sports experience" when he founded Space. From 2016 to the present, Space has opened 8 offline stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, and Hangzhou. Every time a new store opens, there are many celebrities as its platform, and Wu Yanzu was also one of the investors in this gym. In 2018, Space announced the completion of a 100 million yuan Series B financing, led by Alibaba's Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund. Before the epidemic, with the blessing of financing, Space has been making great progress, and Winshang.com has reported that Space has a 10-month return on investment at the Sanlitun venue in Taikoo Li, Beijing, a 5-month return on investment at the Beijing International Trade Center Phase 3 venue, and a two-month return on investment at the Taikoo Hui Shanghai venue.
The epidemic period is a test for the cash flow of offline venues, especially Space, because its locations are concentrated in trendy landmarks in first-tier cities, and high rents are also one of the objective reasons for its closure, especially some venues are obviously not profitable, but they are still not closed. This year, Space introduced a new rule that would prevent classes from starting if there were fewer than four members, and the INDIGO venue in Beijing was often disgruntled and classes cancelled.
In order to ensure the quality of classes, all full-time coaches are signed exclusively, not only with basic salary but also social security, all courses are independent research and development, and the training business of new teachers has never been interrupted. Xiaomei told this magazine that the treatment and benefits given to teachers by Space are of a high standard in the industry. Due to the collapse of traditional gyms, many young people have realized the crisis of deep bundling of card purchases, so they favor group class gyms that can make appointments per session. The services provided by Space have certain advantages over other similar gyms, for example, in order to reduce costs, Super Orangutan does not have a bathing space, and Space not only has a bathing space, but also provides shampoo, shower gel and bath towels, all of which invisibly increase its cost.
Stills from "I want to go against the wind".
In 2021, gyms trapped offline have made efforts online, and Space has followed the online trend to acquire home fitness company My shape, which is a brand that mainly promotes AI smart personal training families, including Ai fitness TVs and fitness mirrors. With the epidemic passing, the trend of home fitness has not lasted long, and such an investment business can only be said to be thunderous and rainy for Space, and has not brought more effective return on investment for its brand.
The downgrade in consumption caused by the economic downturn has also brought a new crisis to such group class gyms in the post-epidemic era. Bonnie probably has 5-6 colleagues who are members of the space like her, but Bonnie is the only one who has bought a lesson bag, and they stopped renewing their classes after the pandemic, but instead booked them through classpass. Although this mini program also needs to be recharged for consumption, as a third-party platform, there are as many as 1,000 gyms in cooperation with it, which virtually reduces the risk of thunderstorming. Alternatively, you can make an appointment with a temporary class member in the group, so that you no longer need to buy a one-time lesson package.
Due to the small number of stores and the fact that Space is mainly in Beijing and Shanghai, its closure did not attract as much social attention as Fanyin Yoga, but it caused quite a stir in the industry. In particular, it is a representative of the group class gym with excellent background, high membership stickiness, good reputation, and strong teachers, and it collapsed overnight. Regardless of the industry, the risks and uncertainties of "prepaid" card issuance have been amplified after the epidemic, and the prepaid business will become more and more difficult in the future. Lily said, "Recently, I have been spending all kinds of prepaid cards before, and I even have a feeling that I can earn them once at a time", which sounds ridiculous and sad.