New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
In salon suites, stylists eke through pandemic
As the calendar flipped to March, Kerry Tolisano admits she was uncertain about the wisdom of getting on a flight to Cancun for a meeting with fellow My Salon Suite franchisees, given escalating warnings about potential coronavirus travel bans.
Tolisano opted to go to Mexico, collecting a “franchisee of the year” award while there — but with last year’s job no comparison to the work in 2020 to get her Connecticut salon tenants back up and running, after being forced to close between March and June in an effort to contain COVID-19.
Tolisano and spouse Jay have three My Salon Suite locations in Fairfield, Shelton and Stamford, which have maxed out their available capacity leasing suites to just over 80 tenants across the three locations. All saw their businesses upended by Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order for salons to close March 20, with the order not lifted until early June and rules governing sanitizing salons and limited client visitations.
That left the Tolisanos scrambling to ready their suites for the reopening, even as they waived rent for their tenants who are solo entrepreneurs spanning hair and beauty services, some with limited track records that put them at the back of the line for some business assistance programs that have emerged in the wake of the pandemic.
“We needed to ... make sure that these professionals were not responsible for rent during the shutdown, because our goal is to get everyone back in — and make sure they get back without having debt hanging over their heads,” Tolisano said. “Our business wouldn’t be possible without them; their business wouldn’t be possible without us. It’s a ... symbiotic relationship.”
The Tolisanos found helping hands along the way themselves, including from their own landlords in Fairfield, Shelton and Stamford who extended concessions on their lease terms. A business partner owned a cleaning business, so the Tolisanos were able to get a ready supply. And after seeing a Facebook post about a window treatments company in Waterbury called Porter Preston that had begun making face shields, she put in an inquiry.
“Within two days they showed up at my doorstep,” she said. “It was pretty cool.”
But coronavirus hit hard on other fronts, with Jay’s mother contracting the virus at her nursing home — she recovered — and some My Salon Suite tenants going onto unemployment compensation, as independent contractors have been allowed to do for the first time under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act with more than 60,000 in Connecticut currently drawing benefits. In some instances, Tolisano said, that was the result of having to stay home to mind children after schools closed in March.
Tolisano estimates about one in every four tenants landed Paycheck Protection Program loans that banks are forgiving under U.S. Department of the Treasury rules for businesses that do not lay off employees — easy money for independent contractors who by definition have no other workers on the payroll.
Nicole DaSilva sought aid herself — unsuccessfully — after starting up her eyelash and makeup spa Nicole Taylor Beauty only last autumn at My Salon Suite in Shelton, fresh out of cosmetology school. She said business volume has more than doubled since the reopening, however, with some clients wanting to showcase their eyelashes now that their faces
“We needed to ... make sure that these professionals were not responsible for rent during the shutdown, because our goal is to get everyone back in — and make sure they get back without having debt hanging over their heads. Our business wouldn’t be possible without them; their business wouldn’t be possible without us.” Kerry Tolisano, My Salon Suite franchisee
tenants to collect 70 percent of their rents due by the end of this month, with collections at half that level in May. Of borrowers with mortgages on apartment buildings, rents were coming in at 80 percent of their normal level as of this month.
People’s United has issued more than 14,000 loan deferrals during the pandemic, including about $6 billion in loans outstanding on commercial loans and equipment leases, and about $1 billion for its retail segment that includes household debt like mortgages.
“Most of the deferrals were granted in late March
[and] early April; and so right now as we speak there’s a pretty significant number of those conversations have taken place in the last 30 days, to try to gauge and anticipate how many will be asking for a second,” said People’s United CEO Jack Barnes, focusing his comments largely on commercial debt during a Thursday conference call with investment analysts. “We think the hospitality group definitely will need it — and we’ll definitely accommodate them.”
People’s United remained profitable in the second quarter, reporting Thursday earnings of $90 million that were off more than 30 percent from the first three months of the year. But the bank exited
“Most of the deferrals were granted in late March [and] early April; and so right now as we speak there’s a pretty significant number of those conversations have taken place in the last 30 days, to try to gauge and anticipate how many will be asking for a second.” People’s United CEO Jack Barnes
the quarter with progress on multiple fronts, notably in feedback from commercial real estate borrowers who reported improved rent collections in June from their tenants.
“It’s difficult to predict what the second half of the year looks like, but as we sit here today they’ve been steadily increasing [payments] since the start of the pandemic,” Jeff Tengel, president of People’s United’s commercial and retail banking divisions, said Thursday. “[They’re] currently in a much better position today than they were three months ago.”