Hairdressers in Aberdeen are facing a significant hit to business as dozens of people cancel their appointments each week due to Covid – with many drop-outs happening at the last minute.
At this time last year, beauty salons and barbers were among the businesses seriously impacted by a full national lockdown, brought in to control a rise in coronavirus cases from the festive period.
This January, existing restrictions are far less severe, meaning customers are still able to come through doors.
But with case numbers rocketing across Scotland – the daily figure passed 20,000 for the first time on Monday – the number of people calling off their haircuts after testing positive or coming into close contact with a positive case has risen too.
Ryan Harris, the owner of Rosemount Viaduct barber Harris & Fox, said: “We’ve got a really good system in place where clients get text message reminders and email reminders confirming their appointment, and then they get one a few days before that they can either text to say they don’t want to come or they still want their appointment.
“Normally we don’t get that many cancellations, but it’s just with the current situation – because obviously, there’s a lot of cases of Covid at the moment, and people just maybe playing it safe as well, not wanting to risk it.”
He said there are currently around three cancellations every day, from people who have Covid or who are waiting for the results of a PCR test.
He added: “It just means we’re losing a bit of money at the moment, but everybody who’s cancelled will be getting rebooked in at some point. So it should work out OK in the long run, but for now it’s a bit of a pest.”
For Dean Walker, director of Mr Dun on Belmont Street, the scale of drop-outs was even more significant in December, when the business could expect around five cancellations every day.
He said: “What we were noticing was that, often when people are cancelling we’d get more notice, but it’s been really quite late cancellations that we got – either not turning up at all, or late cancellations.
“That was a big difference, because you don’t have time to rebook that slot once it’s gone.”
Mr Walker acknowledged the issue was “national”, as demonstrated in recent findings by the Office for National Statistics.
The organisation found that 16% of companies had reported a rise in cancellations, but services companies such as hairdressers and beauty salons had been hit particularly hard, with a 50% increase in cancellations.
On Wednesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced services such as beauticians and hairdressers would receive £19 million as part of a £55 million fund for businesses hit by the latest restrictions.
Mr Harris was not confident things would improve soon, saying: “It doesn’t really feel like it’s going to go back to normal.
“This is probably the most I’ve noticed the disruption, apart from obviously being closed.”
However, Mr Walker was more optimistic ahead of the reopening of Mr Dun on Monday.
He said: “There was a bit of waiting to see if there was going to be any more shutdowns for our sector, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen now.
“That’s a bit of a relief, that we’re going to start the new year and we’re going to be open.
“Having done that on this last occasion, I think going forward it we might be getting to understand how we’re going to live with this and get through it and get on, so I do feel quite positive about 2022.”