Adam and Weave Barber and Salon in Hughesdale to reopen early despite fine
A Hughesdale hair and barber salon is the latest business to reopen on the weekend despite stage 4 restrictions. It comes as the salon’s manager urges small businesses to follow suit and open early despite hefty fines.
East
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A Hughesdale hairdressing salon will reopen its doors on Saturday despite the threat of hefty fines.
It comes after Berwick retailer Harry Hutchinson, who has already been slapped with an almost $10,000 fine and shutdown by DHHS, said he also planned to reopen on the weekend in support for small businesses.
Adam and Weave Barber and Salon in Hughesdale manager Jomana Najem, who opened the business with her husband who is a hairdresser and barber Rojer Achallak in July, said the pair were reopening the salon due to suffering financial losses.
“We have absolutely no income coming in whatsoever, we’re desperate and we’ve got two young children and we want to be able to feed them,” Ms Najem said.
“My husband doesn’t have his permanent residency and we’re not eligible for any financial assistance because we’ve had the business for less than 12 months.
“The overheads are growing, there’s no government assistance and we just don’t understand how businesses haven’t opened up in any shape or form.”
She said the Victorian road map left businesses with uncertainty.
“We’re running out of hope, we don’t have a date of when we will get out of this and I don’t agree with it – we’ve had two cases today.”
Ms Najem said the pair would fight any hefty fines due to reopening.
“We’ll take the fine to court and we will let the court decide. Not opening up is much scarier for us than a $10,000 fine.”
She said the response from the public had been “overwhelming”.
“It’s amazing we're really overwhelmed, my husband and I decided yesterday that we had to do this … the phone hasn’t stopped ringing and we’ve even had someone send us flowers.”
She said her salon would follow all safety protocols when reopening.
“We’ve got hand sanitiser and social distancing in place but if people have exemptions for masks or choose not to wear masks, we’re not the police to enforce that.”
Ms Najem said she urged other small businesses to reopen and follow suit.
“The fact that we’ve done nothing for so long is the reason that we’ve found ourselves here and if we do nothing our businesses will die.
“Please open for your own survival because at the end of the day a $10,000 fine can be taken to court and if you didn’t have any income to pay it you can just pay $5 a week.
“For some people being closed is taking more than $10,000 a day, so it’s just weighing up the cost because your livelihood and existence is worth more than $10,000 – please open your doors.”
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