NORFOLK, Va. - “I needed a haircut. I wasn’t looking good, so I had to get right,” said Richard Davis.
The long, two-month wait is finally over for clients.
“It's been good. I mean, we are booked out all weekend; most of the guys are booked out for the most part,” said Nado Garcia, owner of The VIP Lounge Barbershop in Norfolk.
He says being forced to lock up his barbershop for seven weeks because of the coronavirus wasn’t easy. Garcia considered applying for a small business loan, but he didn’t have to thanks to support from others.
“If something needed to get paid, somebody stood up and said, ‘I’m going to take care of it,'" he adds.
In order to reopen, he had to sweep some things away.
“We took the waiting area out, we spaced all the stations and chairs six feet apart,” said Garcia.
Before you enter the barbershop, you must have an appointment. If you don’t have one, you’re asked to scan a QR code to make one and wait outside for a receptionist to assist you.
There are also strict state guidelines that must be met in order to properly social distance.
“We are only running 4-5 barbers per shift,” Garcia adds.
But he didn’t get rid of any of his employees.
“We actually built another shop during the quarantine,” he adds. It’s a vintage barbershop and store on Granby Street called The Locker Room.
A way to make sure all of his barbers can still have clients in their chairs.
