Marion County residents crossing county lines to go to hair, nail salons
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Marion County is three weeks behind the rest of the state when it comes to opening salons, with the tentative date to open currently set for June 1.
It has been two months since salons have been closed across the state due to COVID-19. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett announced that Marion County would move forward with Stage 2 of reopening but would still require nail and hair salons to remain closed. That decision caused some people to take their business outside of the city.
Surrounding counties were able to open salons on May 11. For some people, the extra wait isn’t a big deal.
“It is not that long of a time difference between one or the other. And I am working from home anyway so it is not like I have to go and see people or go to a party or anything like that so I can wait a couple more weeks to get my hair and nails done,” said Carrie Furin, who lives in Marion County.
Others are not waiting for Indianapolis to open to get those services done.
“If it isn’t serious, they don’t need to go out. But if it is, like, if they have gone too long, like a month or something, then I feel like they should go out and get their hair done or if they don’t need to, then stay home,” said Marion County resident Tanna Williams.
News 8 took a poll on social media. At 10 p.m. Sunday, Facebook poll with more than 1,000 votes showed 57% of voters were willing to cross county lines to get their hair and nails done.
At 10 p.m., our Twitter poll showed 64% of voters would go to other counties.
“I think it is still a deterrent probably. If you have to drive 20 minutes instead of, or 30 minutes instead of 5 minutes,” said Marion County resident Jeff Nottingham.
Nottingham’s family has a newborn baby in the NICU, so for them going out isn’t an option. They found ways to get those services done from home.
“Our neighbor cut our hair, not mine, and our daughters, they do each other’s nails,” said Nottingham.
Some people who live in Indianapolis were already traveling outside of the county to get their salon services done before the pandemic.
“One of my coworkers mentioned that she lives on the north side of Indy and she mentioned that she was going to get her nails and hair done,” said Furin.
While Marion County’s restrictions are taking a hit on businesses in Marion County, it has increased business for people like Jene Williams, who owns a hair salon in Greenwood.
“They want to get their hair done for special occasions. People from Indianapolis will go 45 minutes to come drive to me to get their hair done,” said Williams.
Salon owners say they worry they will lose customers the longer they remain close. Some have even started a petition that has more than 1,200 signatures to try and get Hogsett to open salons in Marion County sooner.