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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Penny Case leads a water aerobics class at the Hoover Recreation Center.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
A member of the Hoover Recreation Center jogs along the indoor track above the aquatic center.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Janet Bullard smiles as she participates in a water aerobics class.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the Hoover Recreation Center, cutting its membership levels in half, according to city records.
The number of memberships at the Rec Center dropped 58% from 7,608 in February 2020 to 3,177 in February 2021. The number of memberships climbed back up slightly to 3,528 in April, but that’s still a far cry from the numbers before the pandemic hit.
“I think everybody’s just nervous about coming back,” Hoover Parks and Recreation Director Craig Moss said.
The Rec Center was closed for about 70 days in the spring of 2020 due to state health orders, but even after it reopened, there were numerous restrictions in place regarding capacity levels and social distancing.
Every other workout machine was blocked off, class sizes were cut in half, and the number of people allowed in the gym was greatly curtailed, said Bill Wilder, the Rec Center superintendent. Whereas on a normal night there may have been 40 to 45 people in the gym before, social distancing restrictions meant no more than 12 people could go in the gym at one time, Wilder said.
Also, a few class instructors opted out of teaching classes due to COVID-19, and some classes had to be canceled, he said.
The Rec Center has been following all the sanitation requirements and recommendations, Moss said. People using fitness equipment have been required to sanitize each piece of equipment before and after each use, and the custodial staff has been doing deep cleaning on the weekends, he said. Members also have been complimentary about the sanitation precautions, he said.
Still, the capacity limitations and social distancing requirements caused some people to question the value of their membership, leading them not to renew when their annual membership expired, Wilder said.
The Rec Center offered each member an extension of their membership for at least two months because of the facility being shut down. Some chose to utilize that extension, but others canceled.
Historically, senior citizens have made up a significant portion of the Rec Center membership, Moss said. That population was at greater risk to COVID-19 complications than younger people, and that has made some of them more wary about venturing back out into enclosed public spaces.
The fact that the Hoover Senior Center remained closed to the public for more than a year — from March 16, 2020, to June 1 of this year — also meant some seniors who were members of the Rec Center were getting out less frequently. However, some senior citizens came back to the Rec Center immediately after it reopened, Wilder said.
Rec Center officials say they are confident their numbers will rebound as more people get vaccinated and following the removal of capacity limitations for fitness centers.
“We’re seeing more and more people coming back,” Moss said.
NEW COMPETITORS
While the Rec Center was losing members, some new fitness facilities have been opening.
Club4Fitness, a Mississippi-based fitness chain, opened a new fitness center in Brook Highland Plaza in August and another in Homewood in March.
While the one in Homewood has still been ramping up, the one in Brook Highland Plaza has been steadily growing and exceeding expectations, even without taking COVID-19 into account, said Cory Norris, a regional manager for Club4Fitness. That was even with the 50% capacity limitations and social distancing requirements, he said.
“Most people are eager to come in,” Norris said.
Club4Fitness is in the process of opening another location in Hoover, renovating the former Stein Mart store in the Colonial Promenade Hoover shopping center on John Hawkins Parkway. That fitness center is 10,000 square feet bigger than the one in Brook Highland Plaza and has a target opening date of late summer.
Meanwhile, business at Crunch Fitness at The Centre at Riverchase — about half a mile from the Hoover Rec Center — has been going very well since the facility opened in July of last year, General Manager Johnny Isbell said. The facility is getting close to 5,000 members, Isbell said.
Gigi Snider, one of the owners of a new Hotworx infrared fitness studio franchise at Colonial Promenade Hoover, said she formerly was a member of the Hoover Rec Center but left there, along with many others, to go to the Hoover YMCA. And when fitness facilities reopened after being closed for COVID-19, she never went back to the YMCA, she said.
She found a Hotworx studio in Vestavia Hills and started going there instead and eventually decided to open one in Hoover. She believes the Rec Center has lost a lot of its younger members to newer facilities, she said.
RETURNING TO NORMALCY
Moss said he’s not sure if the Rec Center is losing members to private facilities. The main reasons he’s heard people have not renewed their memberships there are due to COVID-19 and he’s hopeful those people eventually will return.
Wilder concurred and said he is confident the numbers at the Rec Center will rebound.
“You won’t get the programs and services we offer for any better membership rate than we have,” Wilder said.
Their objective is to provide residents of Hoover with superior facilities and learning opportunities, whether through weight training, cardio workouts, swimming or other athletic and recreational programs. They have more than 50 classes each week, including things like zumba, pilates, yoga, cycling and step aerobics, he said.
“We have so much to offer here at a very economical price,” Wilder said, noting that there are different membership prices for individuals, couples and families. “We’re just hoping we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”
