Yukon barber Bodie Mankin pulled out the scissors and plugged in the clippers again Friday as he opened to some shaggy customers who had gone without a trim during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barber shops and hair and nail salons were allowed to reopen statewide Friday by order of Gov. Kevin Stitt after a pandemic shutdown that lasted more than a month.
Mankin worked with just one customer allowed in a chair at a time Friday. Others waited outside on the sidewalk or sat on a retaining wall and in their vehicles.
Precautions are still being taken regarding COVID-19. Many people wore masks and kept distance.
Mankin cut the hair of Brandon Wolf, 28, from Mustang on Friday morning.
The shop where Mankin works has been open for 29 years. Owner Jim Hedrick, 80, is staying at home though, and “playing it safe,” Mankin said. The line outside was about 10 people before noon. Some showed up and then left due to the wait.
Waiting was required at other barber shops.
At Jerri Conine’s Kustom Kuts Too, 1212 Cornwell Ave., people could pick a number Friday and wait outside.
Jerri Conine, owner of Kustom Kuts Too, 1212 Cornwell in Yukon, cuts Randy Reynolds hair Friday. Reynolds, of Yukon, said he went seven weeks without a haircut. (Photo by Robert Medley)
By mid-morning, a man took a white piece of paper with the number 20 written on it in black. He went to a car to wait. Another man in a mask sat on a bench in front of the building that has been a barber shop for about 35 years. The building was formerly a drive-in hamburger restaurant.
For Conine, the five-week pandemic shutdown for barber shops was difficult.
“It was horrible. It was horrible,” Conine said. “And I was very stressed because I’m a small business owner. You know that is hard being a small business owner. We applied for a loan, we got nothing. We haven’t gotten our stimulus checks yet. So I was closed five weeks, five weeks, that’s tough on a business. Fortunately my husband (Butch Conine) was able to take care of me for a month,” Conine said.
The wait ended for one young customer who showed up with his grandfather for a haircut.
The lines for a haircut continued to be long at other barber shops across the city. Read The Yukon Progress and yukonprogress.com for updates.
