Pinellas Barbershops, Salons Bank On Recouping Coronavirus Losses

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — After being closed since March 26 due to coronavirus restrictions, Pinellas County barbershops, hair salons and nail salons will reopen Monday.

On Friday night, Gov. Ron DeSantis approved the reopening of personal care retail businesses with restrictions to reduce coronavirus risks to staff and customers.

With that in mind, shop owners and contracted grooming professionals promptly began taking appointments in the hopes of recovering from their financial losses during the shutdown.

Because they are self-employed, barbers and stylists don't qualify for Florida unemployment compensation. And only 5.7 percent of small businesses in the country were able to get loans through the first round of the federal coronavirus stimulus Paycheck Protection Program, according to a report by business.org.

The statistics were even bleaker for Florida. Florida ranked third in the nation for the lowest number of Paycheck Protection Program loans received during the first round. Only 3.6 percent of small businesses in Florida - a total of 88,997 businesses - received PPP out of 2.5 million businesses that applied, according to business.org.

"Because financing ran out so fast, many states with larger business populations were left with a low percentage of loan approvals," said Chloe Goodshore of business.org. "The top 10 most financed states, for example, all have fewer than 500,000 small businesses, whereas many states in the bottom 10 have millions. This has left these denser areas in dire need of extra help."

Statistics aren't yet available for the second round of PPP loans launched April 27 after Congress approved an additional $310 billion for the program. However, business.org said an optimistic estimation is a 15 percent approval for the small businesses that apply.

Faced with possibility of having to close up shop, barbershop owners like Morris Hensley, owner of McGuire’s Barbershop, a Dunedin mainstay since 1949, set up Gofundme pages asking customers to help him pay his rent and utility bills.

Morris Hensley, owner of McGuire’s Barbershop, set up a Gofundme page asking customers to help him pay his rent and utilities during the coronavirus closures.

"This has been a real rough time," said Hensley. He employs four barbers who haven't been able to work for almost four weeks. "I'm trying to keep the business open with the utilities and rent, and absolutely no income coming into the shop."

DeSantis Resolution 20-120 applies to barbershops, hair salons and specialty cosmetology salons.

The state is allowing these business to reopen Monday "provided they adopt social distancing and precautionary measures” that include:

• Scheduling by appointment only,
• No group appointments,
• Allowing 15 minutes between customers to allow for proper disinfecting practices, and
• A requirement that all employees wear masks while providing personal services.