Excitement has turned into frustration in Santa Clara County.
Nail salons, hair salons and other businesses that reopened Monday were rushing Tuesday to see as many clients as they could before they have to close Wednesday in order to comply with new state orders for counties on the monitoring list.
Following a four-month hiatus, Dustin David on Tuesday welcomed back his first client to his salon in Los Gatos. But the client will be one of his last for the foreseeable future. The impending closure meant a lot of cancellation calls needed to be made.
"That has been maybe one of the hardest things because we got all ramped up and we booked 60 clients a day probably throughout the new longer hours and then we had, in a scramble, had to call everybody," David said.
Mary Badame was one of the lucky ones, squeezing in a blowout before the salon closes.
"I feel like a new person," she said. "I have weathered months of slovenliness. It wasn't a pretty sight."
At The Valley Nail Bar in Campbell, the owners spent thousands of dollars on new plastic dividers and plexiglass to protect people from the coronavirus. Now, instead of getting to try to operate with the changes, they were left telling hundreds of clients who booked this month that they can't come in.
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Co-owner Eric Rogers hopes next time reopening decisions will be more clear.
"The county and the state need to get together," he said. "The county says we can open. The state says we have to close. The state says we can open. The county says we have to close. At this point, I think there’s too many hands in the pot telling us what to do."
The owner of The Barbers Inc Barbershop in San Jose says he spent $30,000 on past bills so all of his locations could reopen Monday. By the afternoon, they were told to close by Wednesday.
“I’m just trying to take a deep breath, we’re going back underwater,” said owner Dave Diggs. “As a barber, the situation is frustrating, but as a shop owner it’s devastating.”
In a survey last month by the San Jose Downtown Association, 75% of businesses said they were in jeopardy if they didn't open soon.
NBC Bay Area reached out to the state to find out what it will take for these new lock down measures to be lifted and have not heard back.
The salons and other businesses forced to close Wednesday will likely have to remain closed for at least three weeks.
