How N.B. Salon, Gym Owners Manage The ‘Emotional Roller Coaster’ Of Closures
Last week was the third time in a year Kristen Leffley has had to close her business Neroli Salon & Spa in Riverview. Zone 1, the Moncton region, returned to the more stringent red level of Covid-19 last week. Leffley said “the emotional roller coaster” that comes with closures has and will take a toll on business owners like herself.
“I don’t know if we were even open a full quarter in the last 12 months. That’s disappointing for any business,” Leffley said. “I think it’s the uncertainty of it all, and the rapid changes in the phases, and not knowing when we’re going to be open and closed at any given moment.”
Under the red level, gyms, recreational facilities, spas, salons and entertainment venues have to close, while restaurants can only offer take-out and delivery services.
While Leffley’s looking forward to re-opening, “it’s difficult to plan and prepare for two extremely different outcomes as a business owner and as a salon owner,” she says. “Am I booking or cancelling an appointment? Am I paying or laying off my staff? Am I bringing in stock or trying to reduce it?”
“The most challenging part is definitely the emotional rollercoaster. The up and down, and trying to stay strong as a team,” she adds.
Closures have also impact Lifestyles Health & Wellness Centre in Hampton. While the Saint John area (Zone 2) is now back to the orange level and gyms can reopen, owner Jennifer Gendron had to close and lay off her staff again last week, when the region was under red level, after being closed for at least three months last year.
“We have taken a lot of our services, whatever we could, virtual, which is helping us to reach some people. But it’s definitely been challenging,” she said.
Online classes don’t bring in new revenue, but they do help maintain a connection with members and maintain existing revenue.
Gendron has been in business since 2008, so she’s “done a lot” to preserve the business. But this time is different because of the uncertainty of when she could reopen. She says with a dozen people on the team, including four permanent part-time staff for whom the gym is their main source of income, having to lay off staff multiple times was difficult.
“It’s been the uncertainty that I’ve struggled the most with, of not being able to have a clear plan,” she said. “This has been just so many unknowns that you don’t really know from one day to the next what you’re going to face with the next changes…and then just recognizing how hard it’s been on staff and members to lose a service that they depend on so much or to lose their incomes.”
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Jason Crouse also had to close both locations of Jason’s Functional Training Studio in Saint John three times since the pandemic began. When he had to close the first time, he lost 80 percent of his members in one location and 70 percent in the other. Only half returned once he reopened.
That has “devastated” his business. He’s had to lay off his 11 employees a couple of times and said the lost revenue will never be recovered.
“It’s been horrible. The numbers are down big time,” he said, adding that he’s making only about 60 percent of the pre-pandemic income before taxes. “There’s no profit being made right now. We’re barely just paying our own bills to stay open.”
Once re-opened, because of health restrictions, his gyms can only accommodate one-third of its maximum capacity at once. That means Crouse had to add classes, and pay more staff.
“If I didn’t do that, I would lose memberships even more, and my business would definitely have gone under,” Crouse said. “As a business owner, you just can’t sit back and do nothing. You got to be proactive.”
For him, the hardest part has been rebuilding the business every time he reopens.
“I’m 48, almost 49 years old. I’ve been doing this since my mid-twenties. Starting a new business from scratch is hard, but it feels like this is my second or third time starting over again. And it does get very exhausting. Sometimes you feel like you are going to lose it,” he said. “What you do is exactly what you did the last two or three times. You got to keep working, learn from experience.”
Despite the setbacks, Crouse says he’s staying positive. When he had to close for about 12 weeks at the beginning of the pandemic, he started providing video content online, recording hundreds of exercise videos. He says fitness is his passion and calling, so he tries to support members at his gym to stay healthy physically and mentally.
“I just kept going. I just kept positive. I exercise more than ever because I needed it. I think we all suffer from some form of depression or stress-induced depression and I can honestly say I’m one of them,” he added. “So I just had to eat healthy, and I had to keep my mind positive as much as I could, reading my books and all that stuff.”
He said he’s received much support from the members that have stayed, so he’s able to move the East Side location to a larger space down the street at 680 Rothesay Ave. That would expand the gym from 1,600 square feet to about 3,500 square feet. The new spot will open on February 1.
“I’m going to go more in debt. But you know what? I’m staying positive. I have the support, and we’re just gonna keep positive and move forward,” he said. “Right now, we have enough support to keep the place going. Because right now, the members are keeping their memberships active.”
Crouse said some members have even renewed their yearly membership in advance. The support comes because he’s built “a good, solid community,” he said.
Unfortunately for Leffley, going to the gym was what always helped her maintain mental wellness.
“The biggest thing that has helped me through this, it’s running, and getting outside,” she said. “We’re lucky here because we have beautiful trails in the woods, so if I can get outside and just run for a little bit or take a hike and just clear my mind, I find that’s been the biggest thing for me.”
Government Support Helps But Not Enough
The entrepreneurs say government support is much appreciated. That includes the recently announced non-repayable grants of up to $5,000 offered through Opportunities New Brunswick, for small businesses impacted by the orange or red phase of pandemic recovery for at least one week between Oct. 10, 2020, and March 31, 2021. Details for that are still pending.
“We’re grateful for anything, but it definitely won’t erase the damage that has been done to the business is affected by these phase changes,” Leffley said.
Leffley’s cost of reopening the first time alone was more than $10,000. For Crouse, $10,000 is the approximate amount he spends running his business each month. Gendron said the grant is “a drop in the bucket” compared to the lost revenues and higher cost of operations due to additional cleaning.
“Though our membership is shrinking, our expenses are going up in that regard. That’s a big challenge,” she said.
Another option is support in the form of debt, but Leffley worries it would dig her business “into a deeper hole.”
Confusion About Risk Assessment
The business owners say they’re still confused about Public Health’s requirement for gyms and salons to close.
Gendron said she understands that closures are “a short-term pain for a long-term gain” and wants to do her part in fighting the pandemic. But it was “a bit hard to swallow” when she had to close while some other non-essential businesses can stay open.
“When people are still able to wander around the mall, they’re not completely locking everything down, it just prolongs this for those of us who are shut down,” she said.
Leffley’s frustrated to hear that some businesses found to be non-compliant only receive a warning, and were allowed to remain open. Meanwhile, she’s invested thousands of dollars to ensure compliance with rules and guidelines.
Instead of a full closure of salons, she said perhaps the government and Public Health could look into allowing salons to open with modified services.
Both women say their industries are misunderstood, noting that spas, salons and gyms are important to people’s wellness.
“Exercising and moving has always been good, but even more so since we’ve been into this,” Gendron said.
Crouse believes smaller, local gyms should be allowed to open because the environment is controlled, with very few people allowed in at once and increased cleaning.
RELATED: Owners Of Salons, Gyms Feel Frustrated And Misunderstood With Orange Phase Rules