GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. It's a fitness industry trend seen across the country --a shortage in equipment. Earlier this year, the Associated Press reported that nationally, fitness equipment sales grew by 170% during the covid-19 lockdown.
Brock Meyers is the store manager at American Home Fitness in Grand Rapids. He says amid the ongoing pandemic the demand is high from customers looking to build full gyms inside their homes, but getting the equipment to customers in a timely manner has been difficult.
"There's been just a ton of influx in of gym goers that have come in and they want stuff for their house, so they're buying everything they need to either get through or maybe not go back to the gym and stay at home," Meyers says. "Its been extremely busy like we have never seen but inventory and manufacturing, everything has been impacted by COVID, so we have high demand and damaged manufacturing side effect."
He says the customers he's seen are looking for that one good piece of equipment to keep them fit while staying safely at home and away others who could be infected with COVID-19. This week, a study published in the 'journal of Nature' identified gyms as one of the top locations where people are getting infected with the coronavirus.
As the holidays quickly approach, local retailers like American Home Fitness encourage customers to place order as soon as possible, and ask that they remain patient while they work to get every piece of equipment delivered as quickly as possible.
"Order yesterday, meaning hurry!" says Brock. "Typically in years past you could wait and be okay, but COVID has been a game changer in our industry and you really have to get moving. Don't expect to go into a store a week or two before Christmas and get a treadmill for somebody -- it's just probably not going to happen."
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