Amongst a raft of businesses taking a hit during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown are hair salons, not deemed as an essential service under Alert Level 3 or 4.
As an announcement is anticipated tomorrow from the Government clarifying criteria various business sectors need to meet in order to resume services, the hairdressing industry is under pressure to come up with a plan while strict contact restrictions are still in place.
Retail businesses were among those acutely affected by the restrictions brought about at Alert Level 4 but on the 8th April, Jacinda Ardern recommended that work places begin a Return to Work and At Work Plan for workers.
Under Alert Level 3 and 4, hairdressing salons are only able to sell products online and items have to be approved by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
However, the chair of the New Zealand Association of Registered Hairdressers (NZARH), Niq James, says there has been no consultation process for the sector about how or when it might be able to resume business.
“The only thing we could do under Level 3 is to sell retail,” he says.
“It’s not sustainable for the industry. Some of the suppliers that we have, have even stopped sending stock to us and have instead started selling it through different businesses like The Warehouse so they can sell more.
“Some salons will go out of business. We are an industry that relies heavily on cashflow, “ he says.
“We are actually nearing the end of our peak season. Coming up to winter, business really slows down.
“Some people will actually put this into the 'too hard' basket and just give up.
“A lot of the small businesses have a mortgage against their house so there is a lot of financial trouble with that,” Mr James says.
He told 1 NEWS that there are about 20,000 hairdressers in New Zealand who will all be feeling the pinch.
Hawke's Bay hairdresser Kay Deakin has been in the industry for about 50 years and says she has never been through anything like this.
She owns two salons in the area and employs 27 staff, but even though she has taken the Government’s wage subsidy she says it won’t be enough in the long term.
“So far the subsidy has really helped, but if it goes on longer then some jobs may be in jeopardy down the track.
“Past that month of lockdown, things start to get extremely hard and the longer it goes on the less likely we will be able to recover.
“The question is how on earth are we going to get out of lockdown and resume normal services again?” she says.
“If we have to go a little bit longer so they get the processes right, I guess that’s what we are resigned to, but as a retail shop you can’t not come into contact with people.
“We are just waiting really,” Ms Deakin says.
BusinessNZ CEO Kirk Hope says the ability of a business to function at different levels will be down to how safely they can operate.
“There is a huge amount of work going on right now into helping find the rules for different industries,” he told 1 NEWS.
“What we are pushing for is to ensure businesses know the rules and operate within the rules to be able to function.”
Yesterday, Finance Minister Grant Robertson told the Epidemic Response Committee that health and safely will underpin any new regulations around business activity.
The Government is set to make a decision about leaving Alert Level 4 on Monday.
“I believe we’ve got the information that allows us to make a reasoned decision on this,” Mr Robertson said.
“Of course it won’t be perfect information but it’s as good as we will get and I believe we will be in a position to make a call,” he said.
The Prime Minister is expected to tomorrow announce clarity around what businesses will need to put in place in order to proceed with resuming services.
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