GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Millions of Americans are in quarantine and by now a lot of them need a haircut. Some have tried and failed to give themselves a new look as they desperately await the reopening of their regular hair salon.
While Governor Gretchen Whitmer has said that measure like social distancing must be in place for businesses to reopen, it's hard to imagine how such practices will work in a hair salon. Salons in Michigan have been closed for nearly a month since Governor Whitmer's executive order, and now some salons are nervous about the prospect of reopening. Major concerns include contaminating their own staff and clients. Sanitation and PPE for both clients and workers are what Cheeky Strut owner Kaite Lyn Christoffersen is worried about most.
"We can't do our job without touching people," Kaite Lyn says. "Until we have more direction and clear guidelines for when we do open, for us to make appointments at this time it just doesn't make sense."
Governor Whitmer has not yet officially rolled out a timeline for when salons in Michigan are allowed to reopen for business. And for now, Cheeky Strut has no reopen date scheduled, nor are they booking appointments. But they can't afford to stay closed for much longer.
"We will never never make back the last couple months of lost income. So how are we going to make sure that when we reopen we're a healthy business?"
Under the federal Payment Protection Program, $60 billion will be set aside for smaller community banks. That money is intended to go to the banks small business clients.
Senior Vice President at Independent Bank in Grand Rapids, Joel Rahn says while is money is desperately needed, it is not going to cure all covid related business problems.
"We see a lot of money in the last two weeks get into the hands of business owners, but I think there's a little bit of misunderstanding in the public about what this money really is," says Rahn. "It's money needs to be used to pay their employees, this whole program was designed to keep employees employed. There's really not a lot of profit in support for business owners. So yes, this is a band-aid, it helps and its desperately needed, but it does not cure a company's problems at this time, not by a long shot."
The pressure to reopen for business and help restart the economy is something Katie Lynn doesn't take lightly, but until she's confident that her staff and clients won't easily spread the virus to each other, Cheeky Strut will remain closed.
"I want to make sure it's safe for my team because I love them they're my family and my clients they're like family so we want to make sure what we're doing we're doing in good conscience."
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