Some SF businesses delay reopening because of rain; others say it's too late for their business

J.R. Stone Image
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Rain impacting SF businesses preparing to reopen
While some San Francisco businesses are preparing to open back up on Thursday, many restaurant owners say they will wait another day until the weather clears.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- While some San Francisco businesses are preparing to open back up on Thursday, many restaurant owners tell us they'll wait another day until the weather clears. It's certainly a case by case basis for restaurants depending on what their outdoor setup looks like.

Hair and nail salons will be allowed to open and the owners we talked with said they can't wait to get back to work.

"We're really excited, we've been waiting for this news for quite a while," says Sierra Law who owns Hook and Scissor in the Some of Market area of San Francisco. Law says the calls started coming in right after news of the reopening broke. "We already are pretty much booked for the next week or so."

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But some of these tables will remain empty for another day. Several restaurant owners telling us that outdoor dining is great, but not in the rain.

"We're going to hold off on Thursday, the first day, and shoot for Friday where we have sun," says John Caine who owns both the Atwater Tavern and Hidive in San Francisco.

News of reopenings is exciting but comes too late for some like Craig Joyner who owns two of the oldest tanning salons in America called Great Tan in San Francisco. He announced Wednesday that his business is closing, saying "we're broke."

"We lost almost a hundred thousand dollars last year and there's just there's no way to continue," says Joyner who went on to say, "I just want to express gratitude to all the people that have patronized my business over the past 28 years."

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Those who are opening are hopeful that clients will be there. Sierra Law says she's hopeful their business keeps up.

"People aren't working from their offices anymore and we're also kind of worried that even when we are open, are our clients going to be there anymore? Will people come?"

Craig Joyner of Great Tan sent out this email to his clients Wednesday: "Due to the prolonged COVID closures and our significant financial losses incurred in 2020, Great Tan is closing. Some of you have been clients since I purchased the business in 1992, and over the past 28 years, I've come to know many clients personally and consider you friends. It saddens me that a 38 plus-year-old business comes to this end under my care. The SBA and PPP loans didn't get us over the hump. We're broke. To our clients and my employees past and present, I say thank you. If you have tanning lotion stored with us and want to pick it up, please email greattansf@gmail.com to make arrangements."

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