Eastbourne salon owners ‘excited’ to reopen after months of lockdown

Gary and Giovanna Young from The Grove Experience, in Grove Road, say they have invested in a lot of safety equipment to make sure their business meets the government standards required to reopen in a covid-secure way. The salon has decided to reopen on Monday (July 6) – even though they are allowed to reopen on Saturday (July 4) – to get back up to speed and provide training over the weekend for their employees. The husband and wife said, “Absolutely, we’re excited to open. It’s been a long time coming. “It’s a big relief. We’re all ready to go now, everything is in place.” The owners said they have put in a lot of ‘time, effort and money’ into safeguarding the business and outlined some of the changes they have made. They said, “I think taking eight chairs out is probably one of the biggest changes we’ve made, as it reduces the capacity. “There’s also longer times between appointments to allow for cleaning. Working in PPE is going to be a big change, and we’ve also gone completely paperfree.” The business partners have made a 10 minute long YouTube video – which they are encouraging all customers to watch prior to their appointments – that takes the viewer on a tour of the new salon setup. Other changes include customers waiting outside and ringing the doorbell before being allowed in, hand sanitisers in the entrance, each station will be cleaned down and fully sterilised after each guest, and people are encouraged to pay using contactless methods. Gary and Giovanna said half of their employees are excited to get back in and the other half are slightly cautious. They said, “We ask everyone to be patient and we are looking forward to it. As long as people are respectful, we will do the best we can.” A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton: In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers. Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. Stay safe, and best wishes.