ByLyndsey Gough|April 22, 2020 at 11:10 PM EDT - Updated April 22 at 11:32 PM
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Businesses in our area are trying to figure out a re-opening plan as Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced on Monday that, “Due to favorable data & more testing, gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologists, hair designers, nail care artists, estheticians, their respective schools & massage therapists can reopen Friday, April 24 with Minimum Basic Operations.”
40 Volume Salon and Spa, and The Five Spot are two local businesses who could re-open their doors, but both owners said, they weren’t prepared for that decision.
“It was a major shock to all of us," said Michelle Rouzer, the owner of 40 Volume. "It’s definitely not something that we were prepared for.”
Brian Huskey, owner of the Gaslight Group echoed that statement.
“I don’t think I’ve heard from anyone who said ‘lets go ahead and get our dining rooms open, we can’t wait to bring masses of people to flood your dining room and your bar.’”
40 Volume has been completely closed almost a month, while The Five Spot has been offering to-go orders, and utilizing their food truck and delivery services.
The Gaslight Group, which owns the Five Spot and two other restaurants and a bar, said they aren’t sure when they will re-opening dining rooms. Mid-May is their best-case scenario.
40 Volume is hoping for an earlier open, because not all of their stylists have been able to receive unemployment benefits yet, but they’re still trying to envision what that re-opening will actually look like.
“I can promise you that we are not going to open up to full staff with 25 employees, and two and three clients at a time, like, we can not go back to that," Rouzer explained. “I don’t know when it’s going to look like.”
She added that the Georgia Board of Cosmetology issued sanitary guidelines on Tuesday, which include stylists wearing masks, and advising salons to take the temperature of clients with an infrared thermometer as they come into the salon.
Both owners agree, their financial situation isn’t anywhere close to what they anticipated heading in to this year.
“We hope to break even for the month of April," Huskey said. "We might be able to do that with the help of our food truck.”
Rouzer said they are in a similar situation.
“We probably will never look at the same numbers that we would have looked at originally in 2020.”
Both are focusing on sanitation, and developing a plan to re-open at a slow and safe pace.
You can follow updates from 40 Volume Salonhere, and The Five Spothere.