Hair salon at risk of closing for good
Lockdowns bring trouble for family-run Yorkville business,
My husband and I have been getting our haircuts at Paul Pecorella Hair Salon, a family-run business in the heart of Yorkville, for almost 20 years.
We were in our early 20s and dating when we first climbed the steep staircase up to the bright, second-storey salon on Cumberland Street. We sat next to each other, I in Chiara Pecorella-Patriarca’s chair, the salon namesake’s daughter, and he in Louie Patriarca’s. She told stories about her three crazy kids while he playfully griped about his wife, but somehow we didn’t realize the two were married until years later.
We lived nearby at first, before moving up to the 401 in 2009 and to Steeles in 2014, but we never stopped making the trek down to Yorkville. We were loyal to the couple not only because they do great work but because, as is often the case in the industry, we felt a special kinship with them. And now that we have three kids of our own, we make appointments for five instead of two.
Well, we used to. Paul Pecorella Hair Salon has basically been shut down all year. In 2020, Toronto’s first lockdown saw it closed from March to June. The Patriarcas, co-owners of the business since 2018, reopened the salon for the summer, but saw revenues drop by 50 per cent.
They had almost built themselves back up to pre-pandemic earnings in November, just in time for Toronto’s personal care services to be shut down again amid a second COVID-19 wave. The salon has been closed ever since.
“Six consecutive months of closures would destroy any well-functioning business,” Pecorella-Patriarca says. “We’re scared. Scared that our business may close for good.”
That’s a real possibility. Neither breadwinner has been allowed to earn a living and, despite owning a business in the city’s most upscale locale, they’re struggling to support themselves and their kids, James, 16, Ava, 14, and Nicolas, 12.
This is the first time the family business has been at risk of bankruptcy. Born in Sicily, Paul Pecorella studied his craft in Rome and Milan before moving to Canada in 1964. In 1968, he opened up shop on the Danforth before moving to Yorkville in 1974, the same year his
eldest, Pecorella-Patriarca, was born.
He ran the salon with his wife, Barbara, who was in high demand providing colour, perms and styles to their growing client base. Pecorella-Patriarca joined the team in her early 20s and met her husband-to-be when he was hired on as a junior stylist in 1998. The senior Pecorella put the next generation in charge of the salon when he retired just a few years ago, blessed to be able to support his family by doing what he loved for his entire career.
Enter COVID-19. The building’s landlord hasn’t been able to give the family any leniency on rent, which means they still have to pay upwards of $7,000 per month when they’re bringing in $0. So every month, they apply to the Canadian Emergency Rent Subsidy to get approval to cover 90 per cent of the rent. They then pay the other 10 per cent out of the $900 Canada Recovery Benefit payment they receive from the government.
“There’s so much anxiety midmonth because we don’t know if the rent relief will come in on time,” Patriarca tells me. “We’re stressed and we’re drained and we’re in financial straits.”
In March, when the Ontario government announced that personal care services in Toronto
and Peel Region would be allowed to reopen at limited capacity on April 12, the co-owners were optimistic for the first time all year. The opening would have allowed for 25 per cent capacity to a maximum of five patrons, whichever is fewer, by appointment only. The pair happily booked clients, only to have to cancel them all just days later when the decision was reneged.
“Our appearance is not considered essential,” says Pecorella-Patriarca. “But the way we look to the outside world is essential for most people. If you look a complete mess you will ultimately feel that way.”
Even Ontario Premier Doug Ford understands the essential nature of outward appearances. On the same day that personal care services were slated to
open, Ford appeared on camera with a fresh new hairdo. When he was called out on it the next day, he told reporters that he “looked like a sheepdog” so his daughter, who lives with him, got out the dog clippers.
“My heart breaks for these barbers and hairstylists that have been shut down forever,” he said. “I’m going to do everything I can to get you back open.” He concluded with the promise that this would be his last at-home haircut. The Patriarcas can only hope he keeps his word.
To say that our city’s lockdown rules are aggravating for local business owners would be an understatement. Since patios closed, restaurants have been forced to rely on takeout and curbside pickup. Gyms have had to make do with outdoor classes when the weather allows. But hairdressers, barbershops, nail salons, esthetic services, body art professionals and other personal care services have been made to shutter completely. The sector feels abandoned.
“You can get a massage but not a haircut. You can get your teeth cleaned but not a haircut. Costco and Walmart can operate with hundreds of people in a store. When malls were open, they were packed,” PecorellaPatriarca says. “But we can’t even offer private appointments, one on one, in our backyard.”
The beauty industry is known for following public health requirements to a tee. Even before the pandemic, Paul Pecorella Hair Salon ran a pristine establishment, always ensuring that safety protocols exceeded expectations. Scissors were cleaned between clients, brushes and combs disinfected, towels and capes washed.
Last summer, the duo added extra measures to keep their clients and staff safe. Implementing contract tracing was easy, since collecting contact info had always been part of their appointment-taking procedure. They invested $1,000 in a Plexiglas barrier for the front desk and removed chairs from the salon to allow for adequate distancing. Temperatures were taken upon arrival and no one was allowed in without a face mask.
“There must be a way to let personal care businesses open safely,” Pecorella-Patriarca says. “Salons are not driving this. We are not a source of the spread.”
She’s right about that. The Beauty United Council of Ontario, a non-profit representing 10,000 beauty and personal care businesses, sent Ford an open letter on March 25 with a plea to reopen the decimated beauty industry, estimating that 20 per cent of the sector has already closed permanently and that countless others will not survive the continued lockdown. The council sites a report from Public Heath Ontario on COVID-19 outbreaks from Feb. 16 to Dec. 26, 2020 that found that personal care was responsible for just 11 of 4,151 outbreaks and 36 of 39,774 outbreak-associated cases recorded in Ontario.
A sector that’s been shut down for the better part of a year couldn’t possibly be contributing much to the spread, says Annette Palumbo, Beauty United’s executive director.
“We’ve been closed for too long to be the source of any outbreaks,” she says via email. “The personal service care sector has been governed by the public health units of Ontario for more than 50 years while other industries have not, so why have we been closed the longest?”
The Patriarcas have been asking that same question for months. “We are being treated unfairly by our government,” says Pecorella-Patriarca. “We want to open legally and we want to open safely. Enough is enough.”
In the meantime, my loyal sheepdog family awaits.
“There’s so much anxiety midmonth because we don’t know if the rent relief will come in on time. We’re stressed and we’re drained and we’re in financial straits.”
LOUIE PATRIARCA CO-OWNER, PAUL PECORELLA HAIR SALON