With barbershops in England allowed to reopen from Saturday 4th July (#TrimdependenceDay) everyone’s getting shops looking spick and span, deep cleaning their kit and panic-buying PPE like there’s no tomorrow.
MB caught up with Wez Jones, owner of The HeartBreak Club Barbers and BaByliss PRO UK artist, to find out just how his countdown to reopening is going.
T-1 days until #TrimdependenceDay*
“We’ve been working our a*ses off at the shop all day to get this place ready.
As you walk in we’ve got hand sanitisation centres. We’ve also got spaced-apart barbering sections and waiting areas. Then when you come to pay there’s another cleaning station with hand sanitiser for when clients leave.
Then to pay, although we’ll be wearing visors of course, we’ve also got a screen in front of the card reader.”
T-2 days until #TrimdependenceDay
“So today I’ve been on the hunt for the last-minute essentials. Just when you think it’s all over and you’re good to go, you remember that you need another 1000 disposable gowns.
After heading to the shop, blitzing the place and making sure everything is in its spot, it’s only then you realise the things you need.
After a couple of hours spent on my knees cleaning, it was time to get our social media moving again. Our task is to keep as transparent as possible with our customers so that they know exactly what to expect when they come through our doors.
We have 2 days remaining but it feels like 2 hours.”
T-3 days until #TrimdependenceDay
“Today has been a fun one. With only 3 days to go until we reopen it’s been a day of discovering items we hadn’t yet purchased. And I thought I had it all!
It’s not until you’re near the gates of reopening that you discover how much you really need. Today I’ve had to panic buy bins for surgical waste, trolleys to make sanitation stations and different visors the last ones made our barbers head sweat so much.
Then there’s been the task of reiterating information to our clients regarding our rules and regulations. And as far as information goes, we’ve had to breakdown to our clients why we can’t do certain services.
Beard trims was the hot topic today. We’re not offering bread trims as it’s a face-to-face service and I believe that without the knowledge of what’s going to happen within the first four weeks of being open it would be foolish to go headfirst into all services. This has to be broken down in detail as some clients don’t quite understand why we’re being so strict with our rules.
Tomorrow we’re heading to the shop to begin our deep clean and prepare all sections and stations.”
*Shout out to whoever coined this phrase, you’re a genius!