A barber has made way for his business to open up again despite safety concerns due to the coronavirus pandemic. He used his portable shields on wheels to keep customers healthy while getting a fresh haircut.
Not only that, but other businesses are also creating ways for their businesses to thrive despite the lockdown, and it's something that you should look forward to as the new social norm in the age of the pandemic.
Shield on Wheels Becomes A Thing
Edwin Ramirez, who owns the hit barbershop called 201 Stylez on Park Avenue, located in Union City for over 15 years already, was forced to close its doors in March when the lockdown started with no positive date for reopening in the foreseeable future.
He thought of a way to make his business run and give people much-needed haircuts, given that most of the barbershops or salons are closed due to the pandemic. Ramirez has said, "I never thought it would be this crazy how it is right now, The barbers have to feed their kids, pay their bills, got to pay the rent."
Ramirez has shared this idea to his fellow barbers, which inspired to create the barbershop shields on wheels. He was able to showcase his it's used Sunday, while he was cutting his relative's hair inside the 201 Stylez barbershop.
Ramirez said, "This is one of the essential pieces I made thinking for the customer, you're not on top of the client talking while you doing the haircut," and added, "At the end of the day everybody needs to get shaped up and cleaned up look good, we have to get adapted to what's coming up to fight this."
He's also working on his concept to help hairstylists continue working despite the lockdown.
Other Businesses Are Opening Up With Creative Means
Daniel Halpern is a franchisee who owns 35 TGI Friday's restaurants from Los Angeles to the Carolinas and over 15 airport locations. He's preparing to open all of those stores with "cautious optimism."
Halpern said he's getting ideas from the government's guidelines and will retrofit his restaurants with the proper protective equipment, sanitizing equipment, as well as temperature checks for all staff and guests.
Halpern said, "One of the things that we're going to do is require our guests to wear a mask. If they don't have a mask, we'll sell them a mask. If they spend over a certain amount of money in the restaurant, we'll certainly give them the mask for free."
"We want to protect the health of our guests, we certainly want to be kind of a value-added participant in the country of trying to reduce the curve," Halpern added.
As for James Cumming's Great Clips franchise locations, the guests will be facing a new reality, which is "hair traffic controllers" that run point on social distancing guidelines.
Cummings has over 46 locations in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, in which all locations will be closely monitored for health and wellness.
Cummings said, "We've turned our shampoo bowls into handwashing stations so you can wash easily between every customer. We've added plexiglass to the checkout counter and have spots on the floors to encourage social distancing."
