Salons, barbers hope for better days
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ESCANABA -- Local salons and barbers are hanging on during the coronavirus pandemic and hoping for better days ahead.
Owner of Salon West Ashley Westlund said her salon's biggest challenge is not lack of customers. In fact, business has been so busy since reopening June 15, 2020, the salon only resumed online bookings two weeks ago.
The things hurting business, Westlund said, are the restrictions on gatherings, and being short-staffed.
Salon West is short-staffed because the pandemic is making daycare hard for employees to find. Stylists without daycare can't come to work.
The restriction on gathering in groups is at the heart of the salon's other challenges. Based on the salon's square footage, Salon West's limit is 10 people at a time -- including stylists. To comply, Westlund was forced to pare down her staff to five stylists and no receptionist.
Beyond limiting the number of stylists, the 10-person limit removed the salon's ability to double-book appointments. Double-booking maximized efficiency by enabling one stylist to take care of two clients at the same time. Pre-pandemic, a client could get a more simple service, such as a haircut, while another client was undergoing a more time-consuming treatment that involved periods of waiting, such as coloring.
In another ripple-effect, the restriction on numbers means Salon West isn't open for walk-ins, including people who come in just to purchase products or gift cards. To help bridge the gap, Westlund partnered with the product lines she sells to allow customers to purchase online.
When the pandemic hit, Salon West was up for sale. Westlund hopes to stay on as a stylist, though finding a buyer amidst the unknowns of COVID-19 is posing yet another challenge.
Stylist Robin Hewitt is moving her styling business into her home after selling her Gladstone salon to the owner of Caswell's Barber Shop last winter. She believes capacity limits are necessary at this time to regulate the number of walk-ins.
Hewitt has seen a desire from both male and female customers to continue getting haircuts. Still, she admits that some clients are afraid, especially older ones, resulting in a loss of business.
Payton Caswell works in the family business owned by her father. She said when the Gladstone storefront was acquired, the Escanaba Caswell's was going strong, and she didn't believe the world would actually shut down when talk of restrictions began.
Caswell made half her normal income in 2020.
She said the drop in traffic at both locations was likely due to concerns by the shops' older clientele over COVID-19. Clients were staying home and many began cutting their own hair. When asked how she knew they cut it themselves, Caswell said because she had to fix a lot of homemade haircuts.
"People went from coming in every two weeks to once a month," she said.
These days, Caswell is optimistic. Both the Escanaba and Gladstone shops are starting to pick up, and she's beginning to see new faces.
"It could be better, but it could be worse," she said.
Like Caswell's Barber Shop, Boudreau's Barber Shop clients are mostly male. Barber Mark Karweick, who rents a chair in the shop, said the limits on gatherings is not a factor right now because there's so little traffic. Younger men and kids are still coming in, though in smaller numbers, Karweick said. The older clients are much more scarce.
Karweick estimates between appointments and walk-ins, business has dropped as much as 25 – 30%. Though he can't say why for certain, he believes it is partially due to clients waiting longer between hair cuts or cutting their own hair.
"There are definitely people who are afraid to go out, even though there's no reason to be," Karweick said, adding that as usual, sanitary standards are high.
When asked if the shop is taking any new approaches to navigate the pandemic, Karweick said they are not doing anything out of the ordinary.
"We tried to keep it as consistent as possible, because people like that. They like to know your hours are just steady and not too weird. There's enough weirdness in the world," said Karweick.