Pattison’s North trucks along as fitness facility amid pandemic, offers skating sessions

Some creative thinking has kept the doors open at Pattison’s North skating rink in north Spokane, allowing owner Shaun Pattison to limit the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Skating rinks, which typically pack hundreds of skaters on the floor each night, are not allowed until Phase 4 of reopening in Spokane County, but the county has been stuck in Phase 2 for months. Pattison made what he thought was a pie-in-the-sky request of the governor: Allow us to reopen as a fitness center.

“Four days later, we got a response,” Pattison said. “It was amazing. We’d heard of other rinks doing it. That’s where we got the idea.”

Pattison started slowly on Sept. 7, opening for 90-minute private fitness skating sessions for up to 25 people. The arcade games and concession area are closed in order to meet the fitness center guidelines. Seven hand-sanitizing stations were installed, and the rink will provide masks to those who need them. Regular sanitizing occurs after and during each session.

There was a good response to the private sessions, Pattison said.

“We had a very strong demand for them,” he said. “They loved it. We’re a 21,000-square-foot building. Twenty-five people in a 21,000-square-foot building, that’s a significant amount of space.”

After a week, the rink opened up public fitness skating sessions limited to 50 people. That’s since been expanded to 120, still just a fraction of the 950 that usually fill the skating floor.

“We just wanted to make sure we could operate safely,” he said. “I don’t want to contribute to the problem. I want to be part of the solution.”

The skating rink was opened by Pattison’s grandfather, Pat Pattison, in 1951. His aunt and uncle, Ben and Bobbie Winkler, took it over in 1974 and ran it until Pattison started running it in 2006.

When a two-week shutdown was announced in March, Pattison rushed to get some maintenance work done, including refinishing the skating floor and painting the interior. But he didn’t need to rush.

“Two weeks turned into a month, turned into two months,” he said.

Pattison worried the pandemic would kill the family business.

“It was definitely in the back of your mind,” he said. “Going six months without skaters isn’t good for any business.”

Being given permission to operate as a fitness center was a lifesaver, he said.

“We didn’t have a whole lot of time left,” he said.

But the struggle still isn’t over. In addition to the loss of revenue from the arcade games and concession stand, the rink still can’t host birthday parties. The parties used to account for 25% of the rink’s revenue.

“We are surviving,” Pattison said. “We are definitely not thriving. Our goal is just to survive the rest of the year. The demand is here, we just don’t have the occupancy.”

The rink used to have three full-time and 21 part-time employees. Pattison has only been able to bring back two full-time and seven part-time employees.

“We just don’t have enough hours,” he said.

It helps that roller skating has seen increased interest lately, Pattison said, partly due to TikTok videos.

There’s a national shortage of roller skates. Pattison normally sells skates, but said they have been hard to get lately. Sometimes he has to wait two or three months for them to arrive.

“I’ve never seen demand like this,” he said. “As fast as I can get them, they’re sold.”

Pattison hopes to be able to celebrate the rink’s 70th anniversary next year, and if his patrons have anything to say about it, the doors will still be open.

“We have a very loyal base of customers,” he said. “The second we offered anything, they were here.”

Pattison is determined to keep the business going while also being grateful to still have a business.

“I think I’ve gone through all the emotions – disappointment, despair,” he said. “But we’re fortunate to have a business and our health.”