NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. (WKBW) — Since Erie County went orange, it's been a lot of new faces at Studio 15;, a new barber shop in Lockport.
"I’ve had a lot more random people showing up like ‘Hey, can I get a hair cut?’ Usually people I cut… I know pretty much everybody. I’ve seen you before, I know somebody you know," Daron 'Bobe' Woods, the owner, said.
Woods said he has been getting a lot of new business all from Erie County.
"It’s already been pretty solid. But now, I don’t get a break," Woods said.
Corinne Caro owns Twisted Clippers in North Tonawanda. She said she just opened the salon so business has been slow, but she is also getting a lot of walk in customers from Orange Zones.
"I have had a lot of people coming over the bridge in Erie County. We’re five minutes away," Caro said.
She said she hopes these customers come and stay.
"I give them a good service, a good hair cut, and they’ll come back," Caro said.
"I’m a firm believer that if I cut your hair once, you’re never going to go back to anyone else. You’re going to come to me every time," Woods said.
But that's exactly what hair stylists in the Orange Zone fear, their clients going somewhere else permanently.
"My clients can find other places to go because they don’t want to wait around like they did before. If there are areas that are close, it’s a 15 minute drive from where I am that can stay open, I could lose clients," Jessica Jackson, owner of Sisters Salon in Cheektowaga, said.
This is the second time Jackson has had her salon shut down due to COVID regulations. She said the fact that other salons are open just minutes away can strip away every relationship she's built, everything her business depends on.
"It’s scary to think my entire livelihood and everything that I’ve worked for the last few years, my entire livelihood is dependent upon my clients staying with me," Jackson said.
