Bay Area hair salons, tattoo parlors rush to meet customer demand ahead of shutdown

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- With the early shutdown looming in Contra Costa County, many personal service businesses are rushing to accommodate customers.

"It was crazy," said Gina deLuca, a hairstylist at Salon Hanover, after the announcement was made on Friday for the county to preemptively enter into the new stay-at-home order. "Our phones were blowing up."

She said they opened at 6 a.m. on Saturday and plan to do the same on Sunday, trying to pack in as many clients as possible.

RELATED: San Mateo County holds off on early stay-at-home order as other Bay Area counties tighten restrictions

"We spent all this money on plexiglass and upgrades on the salon. It sucks," she said.

Customer Lena Takahashi was able to secure an appointment on Saturday.

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"It's been a little difficult because I've had to cancel a few times because of COVID," she said.

She said she feels bad for the employees, who will suddenly have no income heading into the holidays. But says, she understands why the decision was made.

RELATED: Here's what will close under the Bay Area stay-at-home order

"We have to do something," she said about slowing the spread of the virus. "If this is it, this is it. We can't whine about it too much."

Around the corner at Zebra Tattoo and Piercing, General Manager Sean Delfani said they've extended their hours as well to capitalize on holiday demand.

"The month of December, that's what makes our year," he said.

He posted on their social media that they would be forced to close their tattoo and piercing operations on Sunday. By Saturday morning, customers rushed in.

"We opened at 12. At 10:30 there was a line down the block," he said.

They will be able to keep their retail section open, but by Sunday at 10 p.m. they will not be able to do tattoos or piercings.

Delfani says 40 of his employees will be forced to go back on unemployment.

"The first shutdown was a massive hit to us as a team. It's going to be scary seeing round two of this again."

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