Salon owners say Friday can’t come soon enough. ‘We can’t wait to see our customers.’

By SARA VANDEN BERGE

Salon owners across Texas are getting ready to welcome back customers for the first time in two months.

Carie Wright, owner of The Salon, said Friday can’t get here fast enough.

“I’ll be starting early on Friday, about 7 a.m.,” Wright said. “We have a meeting (Thursday) to make sure we have all the protocols down and then we are back in the chair. We can’t wait to see our customers.”

Wright said she was unaware that Gov. Greg Abbott was going to make the announcement on Tuesday that hair, nail and tanning salons would be allowed to reopen this week.

“I was outside and didn’t have my phone with me when he made the announcement,” she said. “When I came back inside, I had about 100 texts and 30 missed calls. It was overwhelming.”

MORE REOPENINGS

Those ready to get back to the gym will have their first opportunity to do so on May 18 when exercise facilities and exercise classes are allowed to resume.

Locker rooms and shower facilities will have to remain closed, but restrooms can open.

ECONOMIC FALLOUT

Just last week another 247,179 Texans filed for unemployment, bringing the total number of new claims in the state to about 1.8 million in the past seven weeks.

There is still no word on when bars will be allowed to re-open in Texas.

“Bars are another area that we want to open because we know the customers like it, but we also want to open up because the bar owners desperately need it to provide some level of income, for them to pay their bills,” Abbott said Tuesday. “But the fact is we are still working on safe ways to establish safe distancing at bars.”

Court Cole, owner of Bull Nettle in Stephenville, said he took Abbott up on the offer to contact his office and provide feedback on ways bars could safely re-open.

Cole said the fact that restaurants have been allowed to re-open, but bars still cannot is frustrating.

“I have enough money to continue my payroll for about three more weeks and that’s it,” Cole said. “I need to get my people back to work.”