LOUISVILLE, Ky. — While hair salons and barbershops can reopen in Indiana Monday, owners must still wait until May 25 in Kentucky. With an opening day in sight, owners like Joey Thompson are remodeling their entire shops to comply with CDC guidelines.
The door at Black Diamonds Barbershop has been closed for nearly two months after Gov. Andy Beshear ordered all shops and salons to close March 18, but Thompson is ready to reopen the doors. Outside the door, signs point people in the right direction, and they even have a red carpet to welcome customers back.
"We were kind of lost for a while," Thompson said.
Thompson said he’s being proactive applying CDC guidelines to his shop in preparation for the reopen. He got rid of the waiting area, switched the barbershop to appointment only and ordered PPE to keep everyone safe.
"[We've] remodeled the shop, put everyone 6 feet apart, ordered PPE equipment Lysol, hand sanitizer, just getting prepared so we won’t be behind," Thompson said.
The barbershop will be appointment only. People can call the shop, book through their app or schedule an appointment on a kiosk outside. When your barber is ready for you, you’ll get a text message.
"Things aren’t going to be the same," Thompson said. "We can’t do business the way we did business before in the past, things have to change."
Thompson said he never suspected to be out of the shop for this long. Not being able to make money or know when things can go back to normal has been scary for him.
But even during those scary times, he said his team continued to work together. They figured out how to file for unemployment and shared information about available resources as they came upon it.
Now, Thompson said everyone is ready to get back to work but they want to make sure they do it right.
"I think now is the time to be patient," Thompson said. "Just take it slow because this is not over with."
Thompson also said he's also going to train his staff on how to disinfect their work stations between clients and customers will be required to wear masks.
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