Prescott-area barbers, nail salons, gyms reopen amid COVID-19 safety restrictions
A new kind of beauty

Copper Basin Salon & Spa Owner Alma Fonte, left, gives her mother Connie Rodelo, a retired nurse, a much needed manicure on Friday, May 15, 2020. (Jesse Bertel/Courier)

Copper Basin Salon & Spa Owner Alma Fonte, left, gives her mother Connie Rodelo, a retired nurse, a much needed manicure on Friday, May 15, 2020. (Jesse Bertel/Courier)

Barbers, nail salons and gyms were among the list of businesses that were allowed to reopen in Arizona on May 13 with increased safety restrictions in place.

Copper Basin Salon & Spa Owner Alma Fonte explained that she barely made it through the two month mandatory shut down of her business.

“It’s been rough. I’ve been off for almost two months,” Fonte said. “I have some girls who are coming back on the first. They are just not ready yet, but it feels really good to be back. I’m just trying to keep up with the demand right now, trying to get everybody in and out and kind of get back on track on things here.”

Fonte said she worries that she will lose some customers who refuse to wear masks, but she welcomes the increased safety precautions.

“I did have one client say that it was against her constitutional right and she has a right and I can’t make them wear a mask, but when they come in here and they want to get their nails done, or if they want to get their hair done, they are required to wear masks,” Fonte explained.

Keith Conrad, Owner of Snap Fitness explained that unlike nail salons and barbers, the demand for gyms is returning slowly after the long and difficult wait.

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Copper Basin Salon & Spa Owner Alma Fonte (Left) gives her mother Connie Rodelo, a retired nurse, a much needed manicure on Friday, May 15, 2020. (Jesse Bertel/Courier)

“Being closed was awful, without sounding insensitive to what’s going on, and you look at the population that’s been affected by the virus and that’s a terrible thing, but look at the number of people that are out of work and are losing businesses and had to close down small businesses,” Conrad said.

According to Conrad, being a smaller, low-traffic gym gives people a safer environment to workout in than larger, more crowded gyms.

“One of the advantages of us versus some of the other players is that we don’t sign up everybody in town. It costs a little bit more to keep it private, to keep it less congested, to keep it cleaner.” Conrad added that it’s safer because there aren’t thousands of people coming through.

Bryce Vaughan, a Prescott High School senior explained that he’s eager to get back to his regular workout routine.

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Prescott High School senior Bryce Vaughan exercises at Snap Fitness in Prescott on Thursday, May 14. (Jesse Bertel/Courier)

“It’s been hard because you get in this groove and you just want to keep going and you want to, it was difficult, but then you care about the safety a lot more, I feel,” Vaughan said. “I feel like I’m getting back in the groove of things, starting to work again . I’m really just getting back into it, trying to get my muscles going again.”

Donna Todd, a retired Prescott Valley resident put off an important medical procedure to get a haircut.

“I had a medical appointment and I told the lady that I have waited a long time to get my haircut and I didn’t want to miss that. So we made a different appointment, so I could do both,” Todd said.

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Donna Todd, a retired Prescott Valley resident put off an important medical procedure to get a haircut, on Thursday, May 14. (Jesse Bertel/Courier)

According to Hairbenders Salon Owner Jennifer Graham, there have been a lot of challenges to reopening with social distancing restrictions, which limit the amount of people allowed in the workspace at one time. In addition, Jennifer said they have been instructed not to use blow dryers.”

“So we’re not using the hand blow dryers. So that’s cut back a little bit because a lot of times people will come in for a shampoo, a cut and a style and now we can’t use the hand blow dryers,” Jennifer said. “They’re like, ‘Well, just get me in for a haircut. I just need to get this off my ears and manageable.’”

Jennifer’s husband John Graham explained that he believes the increased safety measures are a necessary part of reopening, despite the strain on business.

“We could do more business if there wasn’t so much restriction, but until they got a vaccine for this virus or something, you also want to have some common sense,” John said. “I don’t want to flood the area and transfer it, but at the same time I don’t want everybody to go broke. They have to find that happy medium.”

Jesse Bertel is a reporter/videographer for the Prescott News Network. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook @JesseBertel, email him at jbertel@prescottaz.com, or call 928-445-3333, ext. 2043.


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