Afreen Hussain had scheduled the grand opening of her Glamor Village nail salon in March, but the coronavirus pandemic dashed those plans.
She had to wait more than three months, until Monday, when personal care businesses like massage and tattoo parlors, and nail salons, were allowed to reopen as part of Phase Three of the city's recovery from coronavirus closures.
"It is tough,” said Hussain, the owner of Glamour Village Salon and Spa.
What You Need To Know
- Nail salons are allowed to operate at 50% capacity
- Glamour Village Salon & Spa is doing business by appointment only
- Customers, workers must keep six feet apart in most instances
- Glamour Village Salon & Spa has new safety measures, such as plexiglass barriers
Under state guidelines, the salon can only operate at 50 percent capacity. To limit the spread of the virus, nail specialists are separated from clients by plexiglass barriers. They also wear gloves and face shields, and use disposable tools.
“It’s something new that the customer is not used to,” Hussain said.
Glamour Village is doing business by appointment only. Even though Hussain says following strict safety protocol is extremely important, limiting the number of customers takes a toll on the business.
“We cannot keep a full room of clients. It’s by appointment, so one or two clients, at like more than six feet of distance we have to keep, which means we're kind of losing our business also,” Hussain said.
And, for Hussain, safety is everything,
“We were also under pressure, how we are doing to do services for our clients — and we want our clients to feel safe,” Hussain said.
The clients who spoke to NY1 to said they were was happy to get her manicures and pedicures after months in quarantine.
“I could not wait to get over here, could not wait,” client Patricia said.
Re: How does it feel to get your nails done?
“Wonderful, this is a beautiful place,” another client said.
“We are super excited,” Hussain said. “It’s been three months. People want to get their nails done.”
A service available to New Yorkers again as long as the salons and clients keep their guards up and keep the virus down.
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