‘Still In Denial’: Fremont Salon Reels From Fire, COVID Closures

FREMONT, CA— Doan’s Hair and Spa is starting the long road to reopening, after being shut down by a fire last month.

On May 25, Doan’s and its neighbors Din Ding Dumpling House and Launderland in the shopping center on Walnut Avenue, just south of Paseo Padre Parkway, went up in flames. The three businesses are now closed, though nearby grocery store Smart & Final was protected by a firewall and remains open.

The Fremont Fire Department said the fire started at Launderland and was reported by an employee at approximately 7:15 a.m. Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire, The Mercury News reported.

Kalena Cao is an esthetician and manager at the spa. Cao said her sister, who owns the spa with her husband, called her in the early hours of the morning on the day of the fire, but neither thought the alert would be as serious as it was.

But when they arrived at the scene, the lot was crowded with firefighters. By 9 a.m., the whole building had been damaged. Eventually, Cao and her sister were able to peer through the windows of their storefront, seeing the blackened interior of the store.

All the equipment and stations had been damaged. Pieces of the ceiling were falling, and Cao could see the sun and sky through patches in the roof.

The fire came just as the salon’s business was beginning to recover from shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The salon closed mid-March of 2020 and reopened earlier this year. She and her coworkers were just starting to redecorate, but the new lights and plants have been replaced by ash and rubble.

“I’m still in the denial mode,” Cao said. “I’m not accepting ... what happened.”

Cao said the salon was bustling just before the fire, coming off of a boost in business because of Mother’s Day. Her coworkers sometimes worked long shifts to fit in their customers, but she said they were all just happy to be back at work.

“They have been very busy, but they are very happy,” Cao said. “Because during the pandemic, we closed. We shut down completely and now we ... [are] picking up and this happened.”

Cao said the salon plans to reopen, but doesn’t have a timeframe yet. Right now, she’s focusing on taking care of her two elementary school-aged children and getting approval from the City of Fremont for a temporary location.

Meanwhile, her sister has been getting calls from customers, some who have been with the salon since it opened in Fremont in 1997. While she can’t serve them directly, she’s been recommending alternate salons and even offering to pick out hair dyes and products so customers can do their hair at home.

Cao said there isn’t much that she and the store’s owners can do before their shop is restored and ready to reopen. The store’s windows are now boarded up and no one is allowed inside, but Cao said she and her sister have been visiting the shop nearly every day—just to look.

“This whole thing will take [a] long time to rebuild,” she said.