‘The business is going to die.’ Sacramento hair and nail salons brace for COVID shutdown

At Phenix Salon Suites, located in a midtown Sacramento building that serves as a kind of grand emporium for barbershops and other personal-care businesses, it seemed like the cell phones started chirping all at once Thursday afternoon. Texts came from friends and clients, asking about how soon the shops would be closing down.

“We’ve already had to go into savings to stay afloat,” said Brandon Willis, one of more than a dozen hairstylists who rents a shop in the building. “And now we’re at it again.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement that a new round of pandemic shutdowns is looming — this time, based on how quickly intensive care unit beds fill up — was another dose of bad news for California’s struggling personal-care industry.

Hair and nail salons have had a miserable and chaotic 2020 since the COVID-19 pandemic hit California in March — shutdown, reopening, rinse and repeat. At one point over the summer, they were only allowed to operate outdoors.

Now, with another shutdown coming, Fred Jones, lobbyist with the Professional Beauty Federation of California, said as many as 20% of his members might close permanently. The grooming and beauty industry is a significant portion of the economy — with close to 700,000 salons operating up and down the state.

“I’ve been calling them the sacrificial lambs to the COVID gods,” Jones said.

Holly Lee, a co-owner of iNails and Spa in Arden-Arcade, said she had already lost more than 60% of her usual clients when she reopened in September. She said Newsom is overlooking the serious financial struggles that small business owners are facing.

“I have no power to say anything. … I don’t know what to say,” Lee said. “We have accepted it, that’s the rule. But at the same time, I’m really, really worried. The business is going to die.”

Tina Nguyen had barely opened her doors for the first time at Stone Nails on Arden Way when Newsom issued the first stay-at-home order. That put her at a huge disadvantage: With almost no time to build up a customer base, she had very little business when she was allowed to reopen in the summer.

And now she’s facing another likely shutdown.

“We’re very sad when we hear the news. But what can I do?” Nguyen said.

‘I pray, I wish, I hope, please don’t shut down right now.’

The timing of the shutdown remains unclear. Data released by state officials show the greater Sacramento area is on track to hit the shutdown threshold — the point at which only 15% of ICU beds are empty — by around Christmas Eve.

But at his press conference Thursday, Newsom suggested the tipping point could come in a matter of days. ICU capacity was down to 22% as of Thursday in the Sacramento region.

Nguyen doesn’t think her salon will survive another closure. Even now, the amount of business she’s getting is barely enough to meet the building rent, which she said is almost $500 a day.

“I don’t want to completely shut down. Please, let me work here to pay rent,” Nguyen said. “My employees, they need to work to pay rent for their houses … Let’s reopen and limit how many people can come in. I pray, I wish, I hope, please don’t shut down right now.”

She said she knows some salon owners who continued to work under the table during the first closure. She doesn’t want to do that, she said, but she feels caught in a lose-lose situation.

“I follow the law and rules, and then nobody helps me to pay rent. If I don’t follow (the rules) but pay rent, I’m afraid they might shut me down,” she said. “I always follow the rules and the law. But this time, I’m so tired.”

Nguyen wants to continue operating at a limited capacity with the protective measures she already has in place, such as protective barriers and temperature checks. But if she can’t stay open, then the state needs to offer more financial support for small businesses, she said.

‘We are entrepreneurs at heart’

Jones, with the Professional Beauty Federation of California, said Newsom is ignoring the strict safety protocols that hair and nail salon owners must put in place to get licensed in the first place — never mind the additional measures they’ve taken to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Salon owners “receive hundreds of hours of training in health and safety,” he said.

Tracy Huynh, owner of two Venus Nail Spa locations in Elk Grove, said that if she gets shut down again, the state should provide her with financial aid to help cover her $15,000 monthly rental payments.

“Whatever the government tries to do, we have to follow the rules. It’s not anything new,” she said. “We really struggle. It’s so bad.”

Back at the Phenix building in midtown, hairstylist Hasheem Whitmore was trying to stay positive. During the first shutdown — which coincided with his wife being diagnosed with cancer — Whitmore’s clients scrambled to help him.

“My clientele really rallied around me and kept me and my family afloat,” he said. “Clients sent over food. Some sent cash. They sent gift certificates.”

Whitmore said he was also sustained by his faith in God, and he said he’s certain he and many of his co-tenants will figure out a way to keep their businesses going.

“We are entrepreneurs at heart,” he said.