When Primal Gym owner Scott Upston reopened after new years 2020, little did he know in just over a year he would be only weeks from having to close those doors permanently.
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Like many businesspeople in Benalla repeated lockdowns, spiralling costs, a lack of income and, at times, no end date made 2020 a difficult year.
But it was the offers of help and support that assisted him in getting the gym back up and running with it now looking set to help keep Benalla fit for years to come.
Mr Upston said the opening and closing because of outbreaks and different levels of restrictions took a toll emotionally and financially.
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“You start to gather some momentum, people start to return then you have the doors shut on you again,” Mr Upston said.
“That uncertainty and level of trepidation that is out there, not only for businesses like mine, but also the cafes out there that are impacted.
“It makes it tough to get up every day and hit the ground running,
“But now the vaccine is here and starting to be distributed throughout Australia hopefully we will have seen the last of these ‘whole-of-state’ lockdowns.”
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After weathering the storm of the first lockdown the second provided a proverbial kick in the teeth.
“After the first lockdown we were very resolute to continue and to work really hard to maintain the business,” he said.
“But once that second lockdown occurred there was inequity, pubs could open and trade for example, and gyms could not open and trade in a COVID-safe environment.”
It was during the second lockdown that Mr Upston got proactive and produced a video clip calling on the state government to revise their restrictions.
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“I guess once my video got out there the support started to rally around,” Mr Upston said.
“Some examples of that are, there was a lady in the community who wanted to run a go-fund me campaign to raise funds to support us.
“And she was not even a member of the gym.
“There was a business consortium and two separate businessmen in Benalla approached me and said ‘hey we are willing to loan you X amount of dollars to see you trade through and come out the other side'.
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“Members of the Defence force who I’d served with, that are still serving or veterans throughout Australia were prepared to take up memberships to generate some cash flow from us.
“They offered that knowing that the bloke in Townsville, or Darwin, or Adelaide would never have an opportunity to use the facility, but I guess it was a gesture of kindness and support for me to know that we would be in a position to open up again.
“My accountants and my solicitors, whilst they still provided a service, they’ve held off on billing me until we’ve been open again.
“Now we are open again we are in a position to be able to start to pay back some of that accrued debt.
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“Some of my staff worked for noting for a period of time.
“My landlord was fantastic, he did above and beyond what was set in the code by the Federal Government.”
Mr Upston said while he was touched to be offered so much support, he was pleased to have not had to take many of them up.
“I guess as a man there is a level of pride associated with that sort of stuff,” he said.
“But it was reassuring to know that help was there if we needed it.
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“To first and foremost support my family and make sure they were postured to get through, which we could do.
“But after that it was a case of ‘What’s the business going to do?’, so then knowing that was in the background, if required to call on was reassuring.
“We probably only had about three to four weeks left in us in terms of hanging on.
“I have mates that owned gyms in metro that won’t be opening their doors again, and they’ve walked away. Which is heartbreaking.
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Mr Upston said he was confident we have seen the last of the statewide lockdowns and the business was moving forwards.
“We’ve actually gone out and we’ve started to hire staff again to support the demand, which is fantastic for us,” he said.
“So we are advertising and we’re growing, which is good.”
● If you are looking to get fit, or maybe to shed some of the COVID-kilos you can phone Primal Gym on 5762 3454.
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