Salon owners speak out after Cambria County won't move to 'yellow phase' of reopening

Cambria County, Pa. (WJAC) — Online ordering, pickup and delivery are just a few ways many businesses have shifted their daily operations because of the coronavirus. But not every business owner says they've been able to adjust.

Kathy and John Vizza, the owners of Salon Vizions in Johnstown, have had their doors locked since Governor Tom Wolf declared Salons as non-essential.

“We’re not a curbside business you can’t do it that way, and it will be seven weeks tomorrow that we’ve been unemployed. We have a large staff and those folks are ready to get back to work,” said John Vizza.

While waiting for Governor Wolf to announce the counties that would move into the ‘yellow phase,’ under his reopening plan for the state. The Vizza’s say they were confident this meant they would see their customers again soon.

To get ready, they had started to create Plexiglass barriers at their front desk, made a schedule that would allow for social distancing, bought masks, disinfectant and even stocked products.

But Cambria County ended up not making the cut to move to the ‘yellow phase,’ on May 8th.

“Not only did we find out we can’t open in yellow, the county didn’t turn yellow. But salons have to wait until we go into the green phase and how long will that be? It’s already been seven weeks, we’re probably looking at another good six seven weeks if we’re lucky,” said Kathy Vizza.

The Vizza’s say April, May and June are typically the busiest months for the salon and getting by without that income will be tough. They say they were approved for a Paycheck Protection Program Loan, but that it’s likely to not help them at all.

“You have to call your people back within eight weeks to get payroll forgiveness. We have nothing to call them back to and we thought for sure after the announcement on Friday we were going to be able to open our doors and be able to get some of the forgiveness of that loan. And that is not going to happen at this rate that we’re going,” said Kathy Vizza.

Employees at the salon say it’s been a tough time for everyone involved. To try and have some source of revenue, the salon has been offering products for pick-up and gift cards for sale.

“Our customers are like our family. I’ve been doing hair for 38 years, a lot of customers have been with me for over 30 years. They’re waiting as long as they can but when is when? We can’t keep doing this,” said Manager Tammy Hale.

Now the Vizza’s say they can only wait to see what happens and hope their local representatives will fight for them.

“We’re ready to go and we’ll do the best we can to keep people safe. That’s our goal that’s our idea but we do need to get started up,” said John Vizza.

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