Following closures throughout the state and Ohio’s decision on Wednesday to close all salons and barbershops, one Fort Wayne salon owner has decided to close her own shop. And she’s calling on other salons to do the same.
Cheryl Livingston is the owner of The Loft Hair Design in Fort Wayne. While schools and restaurants have been closed, salons have remained open. Livingston says the sanitation practices in salons are already strict, but coronavirus concerns have made them increase them even further.
She says for her salon, this has meant having less staff in the building at one time and increasing distances between clients in chairs.
But despite the increased safety, Livingston has decided to close the salon on March 20. She says she expected early on that salons would end up closed as well, but she wanted to be proactive.
“You know it is gonna hurt everyone financially, but the whole country is being hurt financially.”
Livingston says she thinks it’s the right thing to do in order to slow the spread of the virus and she’s calling on other salon owners in the community to do the same.
The Loft’s staff members are employees so they’ll be able to file for unemployment. Livingston says she realizes that stylists who rent booths in other salons won’t have this benefit.
Still, she says she believes the economy, and her salon, will recover. The Loft plans to reopen on April 1.
“Just know that if you have faith, I think that really it’s gonna recover. I mean, everything that our country’s been through, it recovers.”
