Hundreds of relieved business owners opened their doors again Sunday, after the end of the abbreviated lockdown. 

One of the happiest was Bruce Konings, owner of f.i.t. Health and Fitness Centre in Goolwa, who hadn’t expected to be able to reopen so soon.

All gyms in the state were told to close for two weeks last Monday. Then, when the full lockdown was ordered on Wednesday, it looked as if they could be forced to stay shut for months, as happened during the first wave of COVID-19 earlier this year.

Fortunately, when the Premier announced on Friday that the lockdown would be ending on Sunday, gym owners were told they could reopen along with all other ‘non-essential’ businesses.

Bruce, who has operated the gym for 15 years, describes the announcement as a “welcome surprise”.

“From the business point of view, it is essential that we are able to start operation and keep our employees employed,” he says.

"From a mental health and fitness point of view, for the local community it is important considering the year that has been to keep people mentally and physically well.

"I think fitness is very important and an underestimated component of the healthy community.”

Bruce, who is also a physiotherapist, has operated the gym for more than 15 years and didn’t lose anytime getting the gym open again with classes running Sunday morning.

Fitness Australia says there have been more than 9 million check-ins to SA gyms since the start of the year with no recorded cases of transmission.

Some bakeries and cafes on the South Coast chose to remain closed until today.  Tourists started reappearing throughout the day including some small groups of schoolies.