A HAPPY BANK HAIR-LIDAY!
Scots flock to newly opened barbers, plant nurseries and car dealers
SCOTS enjoyed their first day of lockdown easing this year as hairdressers and barbers, garden centres and homeware stores welcomed customers back yesterday.
Click-and-collect services resumed, while university and college students returned for in-person teaching and outdoor contact sports for 12 to 17-yearolds restarted.
Among the businesses celebrating the return of trading was barber Kyle Ross, the managing director of Sovereign Grooming, which has salons in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
Mr Ross said: ‘It’s a huge relief to get back to work and we have over 750 bookings for April already. Our clients are delighted to be back in the salon and the work to undo three months of lockdown haircuts is well under way.
‘It is great for the mental health of both our clients and staff to reclaim a little bit of normality.
‘It has been a tough time for everyone.’
Ruffians barber shop in Edinburgh’s West End was also busy. Barber Johnny Porter said: ‘It’s crazy, we’re booked until the 20th.
We’ve had people ringing up all day asking if we have appointments today as well.
‘It’s good to come back, there’s a really good buzz.’
Tony Mann, who opened his barber shop in Giffnock, Renfrewshire, at 6am, said: ‘It’s been four months since the last day we cut hair so the feeling today is slight anxiety and slight worry, like “is everything going to go to plan?”. But I’m also feeling really excited and happy because my shop is open again.’
Meanwhile, Simon Fraser, managing director of Ben Reid Nursery and Garden Centre in Aberdeen, was delighted to be able to open for customers again.
He said: ‘It has been nice and steady. I reckon we’ve had about 200 people coming through the doors up until about lunchtime.
‘We are just happy to be back open. A garden centre without customers is a pretty lonely place.
‘It’s a big bonus to be able to open at the start of April to get the spring trade. It has been a real mix of things people are buying. Compost is in real demand. It seems to be the new toilet paper.’
Paul Carmichael, retail general manager at Cardwell Garden Centre, in Gourock, Renfrewshire, said: ‘It’s such a relief to be able to open again, especially as we’re approaching the busiest time of year for us.’
Car dealers were also celebrating after receiving the green light to reopen. Craig Yuill, sales manager at Taggarts Volvo in Hillington, Glasgow, said: ‘It has been really busy, probably double the amount of people we’d get on a normal bank holiday.
‘To be honest, it’s what we expected, though.
‘We’ve had people calling up all week for appointments and people walking in. The phone has been ringing off the hook.
‘It’s good to be back. Being inside for a year does play on your mind so I think for us it’s all about getting back to normality as quickly as possible.’
Yesterday’s lockdown easing will be followed on April 26 with a wider reopening of the economy, with beer gardens and gyms returning to trading and more people allowed to meet up outdoors and inside public places.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon previously said she hopes the country will return to normality by the summer.
But while the present easing of restrictions has been welcomed by retail groups, hospitality businesses have been more sceptical.
The Scottish Beer & Pub Association said pubs will have missed out on selling eight million pints at Easter because they have been forced to stay shut.