Covid-19 Delta outbreak: Whanganui hairdresser closes both salons before region moves to red

Glitz & Glam Hair and Beauty shut on December 1. Photo / Bevan Conley

Ashleigh Dari operated Glitz & Glam Hair and Beauty in Whanganui for 12 years, but shut the doors at her Trafalgar Square and Victoria Ave salons on December 1 due to Covid-19.

Local business advisers are warning that other businesses are likely to follow suit as they grapple with the complexities of operating under Covid restrictions and the effect of earlier lockdowns.

Dari said her clients were a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated, and she didn't want to be part of a system that "segregated people".

"People keep you in business, not mandates," Dari said.

"It's clear to see when you drive past your local cafes at the moment, there's barely anyone in there."

In her eyes, Glitz & Glam was closed for good.

"I'm not sure I can reinvent myself in another way, or create my own system.

"What I do know is that I have my profession. Unless you chop my hands off, I've still got them to be creative with."

Dari said mandating the vaccine pass at her businesses was not something she was willing to consider.

"I never once thought I'd be part of this system. I literally cringe and feel sick at the thought of it.

"Even if I myself was vaccinated, which I'm not, I'd still be happy to close down."

Dari said she understood why most businesses were adapting to the new Covid-19 measures.

Under the red and orange levels of the traffic light system, a vaccine pass is required for all barbers, hairdressers and beauty salons.

"If you talk to them, they're not fans of what's going on, but in order to stay open they have to follow the rules," Dari said.

"Some business owners are fortunate in the sense that they've got vaccinated staff so they can carry on running them. But I know for a lot of people the future for them is doors closed, due to them having to limit the customers who come in."

She was now "unemployable", Dari said.

"I've never been on an unemployment benefit before, I've always been a tax-paying business owner.

"I'm not really sure what the future holds, but I don't think things are going to get better over time, they're going to get worse.

"We can't even enter church anymore, a place we've been brought up in all our lives."

Regular Covid-19 testing, instead of vaccination, should have been an option to allow staff to continue working and businesses to continue operating, Dari said.

"One size has never fitted all. There's never just one solution for however many billion people there are in this world."

Whanganui business consultant Russell Bell said most of the businesses he knew and dealt with were trying as best they could to work within the traffic light system.

Personally, he didn't think the system itself was well thought out, and it was "quite clumsy policy".

"A place like Glitz & Glam might be unique in terms of their decision and their reasons for it, but there are a number of businesses who have made the decision not to trade for their own reasons," Bell said.

"Then there are others who want to trade but have gone out of business. This is the last straw after being negatively impacted by lockdowns here or they have significant customer numbers in Auckland and the Waikato."

Russell Bell says he thinks the traffic light system is "pretty clumsy policy". Photo / Bevan Conley

It all came down to the circumstances of the operator, Bell said.

"There are examples emerging of otherwise good and successful businesses closing because of the [vaccine] mandate or because they don't want to discriminate or because of uncertainty of the last 20 months.

"In the coming weeks, I think you may unfortunately find more businesses making similar decisions to close their operations."

Venter & Hull director and chartered accountant Darren Hull said there may be an impact on spending under the traffic light system, as people got "their heads around the new framework".

"There will be some natural fear and apprehension around the virus as it spreads," Hull said.

"I'm sure there'll be a portion that are quite worried about Covid and therefore might stay away from town and retail for a while, even though one of the objectives of the vaccine pass system is to obviously provide a safer environment for people.

"The other issue for businesses is that a lot of them have done it hard through previous lockdowns. Although subsidies from the Government were helpful, they don't cover all the running costs of a business.

"That's put added pressure on, the point being that a lot of businesses aren't in the greatest shape to now be going through a phase of diminished demand."