After one year in downtown Tulsa’s East Village, Gravity Bear Bouldering Gym has officially closed its doors.
The business, located at 618 E. Third St., garnered a loyal membership base after opening in August 2025. But despite its growing support, operating costs proved to be too expensive.
“While our membership base has grown, we haven’t yet reached break even,” Parker Simms, Gravity Bear’s owner, said in a GoFundMe post in July. “We’re running out of runway to keep operations going.”
Simms asked the community for $400,000 to help keep the business alive, which came as a surprise to the employees, who thought the gym had enough members to sustain itself.
“I thought we were doing OK,” Armen Avanessian, the gym’s operating manager, said. “But it turns out those numbers were not completely correct. So I think that is at the core of why financially this location didn’t end up working.”
Simms continued to try to keep the business alive by shortening operating hours from 14 hours — 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. — to just six from 3 to 9 p.m. The number of staff also declined from about a dozen people to four.
Simms’ fundraiser ultimately fell short, raising less than $3,000. On Oct. 9, he announced that Gravity Bear would close. Avanessian told The Eagle there was an attempt to get a larger business to purchase Gravity Bear, but it is more likely that its assets will be repossessed and later auctioned.
“I think just something in that initial stage was a little bit awry and just didn’t get caught because I think this same concept in a less expensive part of town started out slightly differently,” he said.
Avanessian started working at Gravity Bear in May 2025 after moving to Tulsa from Oklahoma City for the job.
He took to Instagram to share a tearful thanks to all of the gym’s supporters. On Monday, he told The Eagle that even though he’s unemployed now, if he could go back he would do it all over again.
“I’m glad I took a chance on something and helped build something that was cool for even just a little bit,” he said.
When he walked outside Gravity Bear’s doors for the final time Saturday, he said he was glad not to be alone in describing the day as bittersweet.
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
