Columbia business using extra protective equipment ahead of reopening

COLUMBIA Mo. (KMIZ)

One Columbia business is taking extra precautionary steps to make sure employees and customers feel safe as it prepares to reopen.

Varsity Clips and Varsity Nails near Elm Street and 9th Street in Columbia plans to have its employees and customers wear personal protective equipment and do its best to practice social distancing.

Paul Rubenstein, a Varsity Clips and Varsity Nails owner, says its all about safety.

"You know, my thought was 'number one - how can we protect the employee? Number two - how can we protect the client," Rubenstein said.

The business will have its hair stylists wear face shields and gloves and its nail technicians will wear face masks and gloves.

Also, plexiglass will separate clients from employees at the register and clients from nail technicians, and chairs will be 6 feet apart in the waiting area.

"Nobody wants to throw in the towel and so you just kind of think it through and find ways to make it make it work," Rubenstein said. "That's what we've tried to do here, and I think our community has done the same thing."

Rubenstein said the shops closed down on March 21st, before the Governor's order which led him to furlough all 16 of Varsity Clips' and Varsity Nails' employees.

With no income, the employees turned to the stimulus checks but Rubenstein said he plans to bring back 100% of his staff.

"The downside of it, there will be businesses unfortunately that won't survive this, though no fault of their own," Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein said he turned to the Paycheck Protection Program, a small business aid from the government, which will help him get through the time they didn't take clients.

"All those bills have to be paid," Rubenstein said. "You're talking 20,000 plus a month, whether I'm open or not."

Varsity Clips and Varsity Nails plan on opening their doors on May 4th.

Jessica Rose Bruce, a Varsity Nails salon manager, says they're ready to open safely.

"The most important thing for me - I'm a mom, so I want to keep my family safe, and I think just making sure that everybody around us is doing everything they can to stay healthy as the most important thing," Bruce said. "I think we've taken that to the next level and probably the highest level that we can so I feel super confident and coming back that you know we've done everything within our power to keep everybody safe and healthy."

Krista Meyer, a Varsity Nails customer says Varsity Nails has a good track record of keeping the salon extra clean and will feel comfortable going back.

"I'm a nurse so I'm probably a little bit less nervous about it than most other people but just, no fear coming back at all because of what they're doing now," said Meyer.

Rubenstein said he has been in Columbia since 1979 and wants people to be able to rest easy when thinking of walking into Varsity Clips and Varsity Nails.

"We have a large customer base, and we just want everybody to feel as comfortable as possible, trying to get their lives back into normal routine," Rubenstein said.