Some salon owners upset, others relieved at Durham order delaying reopenings

June 1 is now the new target date for salons and barbershops in Durham. Some business owners are upset while others say they are relieved, for now.

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“It is really hard to be so excited and then that’s ripped away from you,” said Marcie Kowalski of Unapologetic Beauty Salon.

Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday that hair salons can reopen at 50% capacity starting Friday at 5 p.m. On Thursday, Durham Mayor Steve Schewel said the city's recently announced amended stay-at-home order overrides Cooper's order. Restaurants and salons now have to wait until June 1 to reopen.

“Soon as they said we could open, I was getting messages like ‘Are you going to reopen?’” said Maggie Lewis of The Lather Lounge Hair Studio.

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“Now to be setting up everything and be told that you actually don’t get it open and it’s maybe June 1 but we don’t know yet? Like it hits the soul really hard,” Kowalski said.

Kowalski said its upsetting to see other businesses in the state reopen and said the delay will hurt her business further.

“I’m at the discretion of the Durham mayor for my livelihood and my business, and that’s scary, it’s really scary,” Kowalski said.

While some are upset, others are relieved. Veena Sessoms, owner of Veena B Salon, said she felt like reopening on Friday was just too soon.

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“A little bit more time to think about it and gives us more time to plan and figure out what we’re going to do, so June 1 feels better,” Sessoms said.

While there are still 10 days until shops can reopen, some salon owners said they’ll use this time to keep cleaning and working with staff to make sure the best policies are in place for when they can open their doors again.

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“Yeah, we were ready to open," said Kindale Godbee, owner of The Heir Salon. "We did everything to clean and hearing what the mayor said ... we respect it and want to do everything we can to keep our customers safe.”