Has your hair salon location been affected by covid-19?
As hair salons reopen throughout the UK, Colin McAndrew, owner of Medusa Hairdressing who has hair salons in multiple locations, asks how has your hair salon location been affected by COVID-19?
Colin McAndrew owns six salons around the city of Edinburgh and is also HJ's 2020 Business Director of the Year at HJ's British Hairdressing Business Awards. Here, he tells HJ how the past year has seen many changes due to COVID-19 for his hair salons in different locations.
How is hair salon location being affected by COVID-19?
We’ve all had to learn to adapt and be even more flexible than before. One of the adjustments my business experienced is the change in roles between city and neighbourhood-based salons.
Bread Street is our flagship salon and is consistently the top earner within the business. It is located in the financial quarter of Edinburgh and out-performed the other salons with the constant flow of office workers – then lockdown happened.
Hair salon location: Community-based salons celebrate success
Raeburn Place is one of our neighbourhood salons and while a smaller salon in size, it had a gentle flow of clients throughout the week.
Our Musselburgh premises is a large salon located in a town on the outskirts of Edinburgh. It has an older clientele, and was the salon not always meeting KPIs. But times have changed. We have noticed an influx of younger clientele to the salon as the older generations are more cautious about visiting. This has seen an increase in the average spend. As less people travel into the city for work and have more down time, they are shifting to their local salons and we are on schedule to double the number of positions within the Musselburgh team in the next 12 months.
Raeburn Place has also seen a larger than expected footfall over the coming months. This salon is all about community, perfectly situated within a small ‘village’ near the city centre. The sense of community here is off the scale. There’s a neighbourhood vibe where independent businesses and residents are looking out and supporting each other. This location is the perfect example of ‘support local’ and we are proud to be part of the community. The salon is now open seven days a week, from 9am-9pm and we have created a shift pattern with the team in order to accommodate clients.
Hair salon location in COVID-19: City-centre salon adapts to new world
The flagship Bread Street salon, you might think, is the causality in all this. While our footfall target is down, we are still making our rebooking, colour and retail KPIs in this salon. Client numbers are down because there is no longer the passing trade we are used to. This has been hard on our two new stylists that are only operating at 50% of what is expected in Bread Street. However, we have a solid core business in this salon and I’m confident we will adapt to the changes.
Things won’t swing back overnight, and our job is to stay flexible and find a balance that works for all salons. It will take time for things to settle into a new normal. The main lesson that I'm learning is the strength of community. Community within our own salons and industry but also with the businesses outside of us. I have always been honest and supportive with other salon owners, but over recent months I have began to appreciate the value of the coffee shops, the takeaways, the corner shops, the florists.
All these businesses depend on each other - no matter if you’re in the city centre or rural village. There is a place for everyone and by supporting local (even in city centres) then we will get through this – together.
