.png;w=960)
After multiple lockdowns, businesses have once again been able to open their doors to patrons who have long awaited their products and services. This is especially true for salons where many go for that extra boost of self-confidence and self-care practice. Bradford has several local businesses that offer personal care services, and many agree it’s great to be back, up and running — but definitely busy.
Brittany Buck, owner of Brittany Buck Beauty Boutique (BBBeauty), is excited to be back at work in the salon with her staff and clientele. Located in the heart of Bradford West Gwillimbury at 7 John Street East, Buck’s salon is well-known for its beauty services since opening it’s doors back in 2015. Now, after the numerous lockdowns due to COVID-19, Buck and her staff are able to resume their services and welcome back their clientele while implementing all safety requirements and protocols to keep everyone safe.
When asked how she and her team have been able to implement all the new mandates and safety protocols for her business to operate, Buck said, “after the handful of lockdowns and closures, we kept reevaluating the cleanliness and the sterilization of the salon and making sure we are following all government mandates. As a salon, we pretty much do all these things already and now it's more about logging the sanitizations and tracking everything once we came into the pandemic."
For example, she says the team is now conscious of using more hot water when doing our laundry and other sanitization practices.
"It’s more about taking things to the next level and making sure everyone who comes into the facility feels safe and also considering how if any issues were to come up, reevaluating what we could do better," said Buck.
Buck mentioned that one of the biggest comments she and her team have gotten through all of the changes is how safe people feel (in the salon), and how she and her team have gone above and beyond to keep client and staff safety top priority.
One of the impacts of the pandemic has been the price increases in almost all products and services in all industries. Reasons for these increases vary depending on the industry, but they can mainly be explained by accommodating the additional safety and sanitization measures or even the current supply chain shortage.
Buck says her industry is no exception, with all the salon's supplies increasing in price by 20 percent.
"We only raised our prices between $1-5 dollars per service depending which products inflated in cost," she said. "It wasn’t too significant but our average sale per client raised in the price range between $5-$8."
She says coming back from the lockdowns made it impossible not to raise her prices.
"We have honoured our other pricing in the past but coming back from the pandemic and all these inflations and costs, we had to be pretty diligent on that," she said. Buck says that she is grateful for how many people have been so understanding about the price increases.
"We are continuously re-evaluating to make sure we are following the requirements of the health and safety board," said Buck.
Coming out of the most recent lockdown, Buck mentioned the salon had a backlog of approximately 800 clients.
"We just got through all of that in the beginning of October and every year we see a steady slowing of business end of October/beginning of November because people want to wait a bit closer to the holidays," she said.
In regards to reopening and getting back to work, Buck says that she and her team were very excited about coming back to work, just to see their clients again and see how they are doing.
Returning to a busy work environment can be stressful, that's why Buck says it's important for her staff to take time for themselves, and get their much-needed breaks.
Buck says it's great getting back into a routine, as it was hard for her to sit at home knowing her staff was also at home not getting paid during lockdowns.
“It was really hard for sure but I think we have gotten over that hurdle of harsh long-term lockdowns now and hopefully the worst is over. It’s definitely exciting to see the world sort of resume," she said.
