Various hairdressers and salon owners say that they need financial help, or to be able to re-open
Hairdressers in the North will turn on the lights of their shops Thursday in a campaign effort to have Coronavirus regulations relaxed so that they can re-open. Many fear permanent closure if they continue without income.
On Thursday, between 18:00 and 20:00, various hairdressers in Drenthe and the rest of the Netherlands will turn on their lights. By turning on the lights in their business, the hairdressers are trying to symbolically fight together for the reopening of their salons and for financial help, reports RTV Drenthe.
One of the hairdressers participating in the promotion is Willem Gropstra of Barbershop Roegh in Smilde in Drenthe. During the first Coronavirus wave, the doors had to be closed for seven weeks. “We received support through the additional measures, I could pay the fixed costs.” When the current lockdown took effect in mid-December, Gropstra could not make use of aid packages again. “There is partner assessment and because my partner works part-time, we are not eligible for anything.”
Because Gropstra also employs someone, his overheads are quite high: “I have a rented property and a house that cannot be paid with a part-time income.”
“We have shown that we can work in a responsible and hygienic manner. That is why we are turning on the light now, before the light will be turned off permanently”, he says.
Image: Engin Akyurt via Pexels
