Grayson Salon Is 'Safer Than A Grocery Store': Coronavirus

GRAYSON, GA — Thanks to Gov. Brian Kemp’s order relaxing coronavirus restrictions, Salon 124 in Grayson was open for business Friday — or at least as open as possible.

Clients waited in their cars, not in the salon itself. They were notified by text when their stylists were ready. Everyone wore masks, and stylists left empty chairs between them to maintain social distancing.

Employees with temperatures over 99 are sent home. So are clients who arrive for appointments and have a fever — but they at least leave with a gift certificate for a return visit when they feel better.

“Many of my customers have told me they feel safer here than they do in a grocery store,” said owner Brian Perdue of Loganville.

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Perdue owns five other salons throughout Gwinnett County and Loganville, all of which had been closed for more than a month. He said Friday he had “mixed feelings” about the enforced shutdown because of the coronavirus.

“The reality is we’ve got to survive,” Perdue said. “There’s no way to make it without some kind of income.”

Still, he was surprised when Kemp announced his order reopening businesses like his — but not so surprised he hadn’t already been planning.

“I think it caught a lot of business owners off guard,” Perdue said, especially because the disinfectant and protective gear mandated by Georgia wasn’t readily available. Fortunately, he had enough on hand to open.

Telling his employees about his decision to reopen also elicited mixed reactions. “We’ve got some people that were eager, but I had one who was so scared she didn’t want to work,” Perdue said. “The salon is open whenever she wants to come back.”

Once clients heard that his salons might reopen, Perdue said he was “inundated” with phone calls from customers. While some stylists already had appointments booked anyway from before the shutdown, many more clients called to see if they could be squeezed in. Salon 124 is booked solid — or at least as solid as having half of your chairs empty will permit.

Why are customers having their hair done with a pandemic in progress?

“Everybody’s different,” Perdue said. “There are a lot of people who are already working, some are preparing to work, and others, frankly, they want their hair to look good regardless.”

Ann Golly of Grayson wanted her hair done because she might have to go back to work Monday as a church receptionist in Buckhead.

“I called right away this morning, and I was so thankful I could get in,” she said. “I just wanted to get it done today. Like the oil change in the car, you know.”

Perdue said that for now he’d be happy just to keep his business and employees afloat.

“My goal is to survive the next 12 months until they get a vaccine for this,” he said. “If I can just pay the bills, whether I take a salary or not doesn’t matter. I just want to be here for our stylists and our communities.”

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