DALLAS, Texas — Friday was a glimpse of normalcy for Texas as barbershops, nail, and hair salons were allowed to reopen under strict health guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
For weeks cosmetology establishments have been shuttered, with stylists and beauticians wondering when they'll be able to earn a wage again.
On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that they could reopen but stylists had to wear masks, had to stay six feet apart from each other, and could only deal with one customer at a time.
The news was huge for Debra Pesnell.
Pesnell owns 16 Supercuts salons across Texas and reopened 12 of them in D-FW Friday.
Across D-FW she owns 14 in all, two in Tarrant County, three in Denton County, four in Collin County, five in Dallas County, and one in Rockwall County.
Among all locations, Pesnell employs 95 people with most of them being stylists.
When COVID-19 hit, she had to lay them all off.
"It was hard, we've never had to do that in Supercuts history," Pesnell said.
When the layoffs started, Pesnell said she began buying personal protective equipment in hopes that she would be able to reopen stores soon.
When Abbott made his announcement, Pesnell had 72 hours to hire her employees back, disinfect stores, distribute PPE to employees, and then train them on new state health recommendations.
"We basically did 10 days worth of work," Pesnell said. "I had my whole family working, and we had a lot of 18-hour days getting everything together."
Pesnell owns two Supercuts salons in the Midland-Odessa area and had to send her daughter to meet store managers halfway in Abilene to drop off PPE, because it wouldn't make it in time via mail before Friday.
"Here we are, we made it through the first day," Pesnell said with a thankful exhale.
The hard work paid off, Pesnell said that all of her locations serviced an estimated 700 people on Friday.
It was business that her employees desperately needed.
The model that she and other business owners are working with isn't normal but it's what they'll need to rebuild.
"It's going to be an uphill battle, but I'm ready for it," Pesnell said.
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