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Nevadans return to shopping malls, hair salons

Posted at 8:50 PM, May 09, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-17 15:38:05-04

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada partially reopened today.

After many weeks, outdoor shopping malls, restaurants and hair salons are able to be back in business, while following certain guidelines or restrictions established by Gov. Steve Sisolak and state regulatory agencies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Town Square Las Vegas, there were some shoppers on Saturday, but it's still a far cry from a pre-coronavirus weekend.

Andrew Hall went with his family to buy gifts, including one for Mother’s Day.

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“Is not the same, it’s still different, a lot of places are still shut down. A lot of places are very limited on the amount of people they allow in," said Hall after buying some shoes for his wife and kids.

However, he was grateful to walk around the mall and enjoy the fresh air with his loved ones, while wearing face masks to protect themselves.

Some businesses, like hair salons, were bustling with customers.

“It’s been 7 weeks since we’ve been able to do hair. I’m very happy to be at work, very grateful to be at work. And somewhat normal to what is normal now," said Shauna Garcia, hairstylist at Great Clips.

If you stopped by, it may have seemed like they didn’t have many customers, but that's because of the precautions they’re taking while complying with social distancing. Hairstylists were wearing masks and gloves and their work areas were separated by dividers.

“We’re not having them wait in the lobby because of social distancing and we are calling them as soon as soon as it's their turn. So, it’s actually working pretty well," said Garcia while cutting her customers hair.

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Customers had to wait between 1 and 3 hours at various locations around the Las Vegas valley.

On the other hand, businesses that are still not allowed to open, like tattoo shops, are wondering when they’ll be able to do so.

Emily Rocha, owner of Seven Tattoo Studio, said she understands that they’re not considered essential, but compared to other businesses like nail salons, she believes they should be allowed to open because they have several regulations to comply with in order to stay in business.

“We’ve been training for something like this. We have to do blood work pathogen every year, we have to get our body art license every 2 years, we have someone in the studio that is CPR certified, that’s just ongoing continuing education," said Rocha.

She knows it could be a matter of time before being allowed to reopen, but for that, she says they also need a heads up.

“A week’s notice is not good enough for us because we want to be fully prepared, get our clients prepared, prep them before their appointment."

Gov. Sisolak said on May 30 we may enter phase 2 of the reopening. In the meantime, this will be our temporary new normal.