Salon owners say they will survive business closures
Published 9:15 am Thursday, April 2, 2020
- Barber Gary Stanley cuts the hair of Danny Eaker at A Cut Above in Dalton. Stanley, who owns the business, said he thinks it will survive a 30-day closure of all barber shops, salons and similar businesses approved by the Dalton City Council and the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday.
DALTON, Ga. — Dana Sapp, owner of Oasis Hair and Nail Salon, had a message to members of the Dalton City Council and the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners before they met in separate called meetings Wednesday at noon.
“Please close the salons,” she said. “It is the responsible thing to do. It is imperative that this city and this state close down.”
Sapp said she recently lost a friend in New York to the new coronavirus (COVID-19), and she appreciates efforts to try to halt the spread of the disease.
“It will definitely have an impact on businesses,” she said of the closings. “But we can recover the economy. We can’t recover lives that are lost.”
At their meetings, the Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 and the City Council voted 4-0 to approve a joint resolution closing “all business establishments at which close personal contact is required in the performance of the service provided, including, but not limited to, barber shops, hair salons, day spas, nail salons, massage parlors, tanning salons and tattoo/body art studios” through at least April 30.
Sapp said she believed her business will recover after the shutdown is ended.
Gary Stanley, owner of Dalton’s A Cut Above barber shop, said he also believes his shop can survive the closure.
“I’ve been expecting this,” he said. “I’ve seen where other places have started doing it.”
Both said their business is already down because of clients observing recommendations that they stay at home.
“I’m probably running about 40% less over the past two weeks,” said Stanley.
Sapp said under normal business conditions it can be hard to maintain the social distancing rules promulgated by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which include not having more than 10 people in one place and maintaining a distance of at least six feet between people.
“People bring their kids. They bring their friends. They bring people,” said Sapp.
The joint resolution extends previous restrictions on social conduct aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus and adds a number of new restrictions.
“This is unprecedented for our country,” said Board of Commissioners Chairman Lynn Laughter.
The measures took effect at 11 p.m. on Wednesday and will last until midnight on April 30 unless ended before then, amended or extended.
