Texas Mask Mandate Ends At Midnight: Will Gyms Still Require Them?
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Businesses across the state of Texas have made or are still making decisions on whether or not to still require masks after the statewide mandate ends Wednesday one minute after midnight, March 10.
Most gyms in North Texas have decided to make masks optional.
At SculptHouse, in Park Cities, masks will be required in the common area, but inside the fitness studio they'll be optional.
Founder and CEO Katherine Mason says because of this, she is keeping her studio at 50% capacity to promote social distancing. The decision came after a lot of thought.
"Ultimately, every single day that I've woken up over the past year it's been an approach of not making decisions too quickly," she said. "We constantly take a pulse on our customers and we sent out customer feedback surveys. Of course there's going to be all different kinds of opinions and at the end of the day, I think we had to make the decision that felt right for us.
24 Hour Fitness is taking a slightly different is taking a slightly different approach.
The gyms will be operating at 100% capacity and masks will be optional for customers, but there will be designated "mask required" areas.
"We will not require masks on the workout floor, but will have a "club within in a club" where masks will be worn the entire time for their fitness," 24 Hour Fitness - Kessler Park General Manager Brock Wilcoxson said.
"To be able to support them in both manners is extremely important to us."
Taking a look at the larger gyms in our area — masks will no longer required for customers at:
*Equinox
*Gold's Gym
*LA Fitness
*Lifetime Fitness
They're still required at:
*Dallas YMCA
Mason said she longs to feel that full sense of normalcy once again, but at this point will be taking it day by day.
She's continuing to focus on her online premium athleisure boutique, which has grown more than 200% percent during the pandemic.
"During the pandemic when we had to close down, we shifted our entire business model to our e-commerce and during that time we saw amazing growth and now we're able to maintain that growth," Mason said. "Of course we would love to go back to how things were before but our customers and our staff are our top priority. I think the majority of people understand and respect where we're coming from."