Clothing stores, hairdressers, and car washes: those who risk quarantining even though they may close them

05/21/2020 - 17:14

• Clarín.com
• Cities

After weeks of claims, some non-essential items returned to operation during the quarantine in the City of Buenos Aires. This is the case of bookstores, flower shops, toy stores, bicycle shops, furniture stores and a long etcetera. Other sectors, however, the look from the outside: are clothing stores , the  shoe store , the barber shops  and car washes , to be followed closed but in some cases, reopened in secret , out of desperation to see how savings vanish and debt grows.

The Government Control Agency (AGC) has already closed 39 non-excepted Buenos Aires stores , including 15 clothing and footwear stores, 12 car washes and five hairdressers, but it is estimated that more are in operation. Shops located in galleries were also closed, and others that sold office supplies or offered repair services for electronic items.

A Devoto hairdresser, who prefers not to reveal his name, admits that he is going to cut at home  because "there is no alternative." He clarifies that he only serves clients he already knows, although that is not enough: he can catch it or spread it. But he's not the only one.

Hairdressers remain closed due to the risk of contagion, but hairdressers have already developed a protocol with an infectologist to return to work. Photo: Sebastián Alonso

"We know that some desperate hairdressers are working in secret, but it is a high risk : we caress people's heads, we cannot be far away. Nor can a beard be arranged if the client has masks", explains Miguel Ligori, president of the Confederation Argentina of Hairdressers and deputy secretary of the Center of Employers, Hairdressers and Combs of Buenos Aires. However, he warns that the sector "is very bad, especially in the case of the independent ones. Many of them are not registered and, therefore, cannot perceive any type of benefit."

Other hairdressers, meanwhile, are looking for alternatives to make up for the lack of income, such as "future purchase" applied to services. This is the case of Diego Suárez, who allows him to pay in advance for haircuts, colors or manicures, with a debit or credit card, and to take turns when the quarantine ends at his Caballito location.

An operator installs separation screens between the batteries to wash heads in a hairdressing salon in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid. EFE / Fernando Villar

"We want to thank very much those who were able to make the advance payment of our services , since it was our only support in a totally stopped economy," says Suárez in a video that was broadcast on networks. It also promises that the return will be "with a very strict safety and hygiene protocol and distance between client and client."

This item is not easy at all, even when he returns: "We will have a very important cost in disposable material , the clientele will be reduced because it will be necessary to spend an hour between one cut and another, and between one and a half and two to make color", Ligori details, which estimates a reduction in the operating capacity of the premises of up to 75% in the expected new normal.

In France, hairdressers reopened with strict hygiene protocols. (AFP).

Car washes are also still not officially working, except those that disinfect taxis that take patients from health centers to isolation hotels. "We requested permits to operate from Ciudad y Nación, but we still have not received a response. Some laundries were secretly opened because the owners are desperate," admits Daniel Rodríguez, manager of the Argentine Chamber of Automatic Laundries and Automotive Manuals (CALAMA).

Many clothing and footwear stores reinforced their online sales system, with home delivery or pick-up at their premises or showroom. However, there are customers who still prefer to try on the garment before buying. That is why the income is still low, and there are stores that reopened despite the fact that they are not yet enabled to do so , in neighborhoods such as Palermo and Balvanera -among those most affected by Covid-19- and Villa Crespo and Caballito, among others.

"We are very concerned with how this will continue after 60 days closed. Likewise, our partners remained closed," says Claudio Drescher, president of the Argentine Industrial Chamber of Clothing (CIAI), which works with brands with a large number of stores, in many cases in shopping malls.

The clothing and shoe stores are still unable to open. Photo: Guillermo Rodríguez Adami

The concern is such in this sector that the CIAI promotes the transfer of the celebration of Father's Day from June 21 to July 19 . "There are countries that have already run similar dates. We think that in July things will be calmer," says Drescher.

Meanwhile, in all three sectors, health protocols have already been prepared for use as soon as they are in a position to return. The one for hairdressers was designed by an infectologist and establishes, among other standards, that both the client's coat and the professional's overall are disposable, that scissors are disinfected with benzalkonium chloride and that " wet hair is cut , because the Dry is more volatile and can promote virus spread, "observes Ligori.

In the case of car washes , "compliance with points such as the protection of customers and staff, social distances, limited hours, that staff are close, rotating shifts, certified work products and incorporation will be guaranteed. of additional equipment , such as those that use saturated steam, ultraviolet light and ozone generators, "says Atilio Krenn, President of CALAMA.

Cleaning of cars in quarantine (PSA Group)

In fact, some laundries have already incorporated this technology. This is the case of Pole Position, in Núñez, which offers cleaning services with a high-temperature steam machine , "which guarantees the elimination of COVID-19 and other viruses and bacteria." On their Facebook page they explain that, as "the temperature of the steam reaches 100 degrees Celsius, a maximum pressure of 3 to 8 bars and an acceleration of about 170 kilometers per hour", "the steam reaches all the cracks or folds of rubber where brushes or cloths can barely reach. "

The emergency protocol for the sale of clothing , meanwhile, provides that customers can remove the garments that interest them and try them on at home. Those that are exchanged or returned will be subjected to the spraying of a 70% alcohol solution and a quarantine period of 48 hours. Once that period has expired, they will return to the circuit, proposes the CIAI, a measure that is already being taken for products sold online.

NS