Salons, gyms navigate complexities of order
They’re eager to reopen, but process can be complicated
Depending on whom you ask, salons that offer hair extensions can open in Illinois despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order. Those that don’t, can’t. Similarly, gyms in hotels can open, while independent ones aren’t supposed to yet, although at least five already have.
Tom DeVore, a downstate lawyer who has filed several lawsuits against the governor over the stay-athome order, advised the owner of a Springfield hair salon to reopen despite what he calls intimidation tactics by the state. Although the executive order provides broad strokes about what’s essential, what businesses may open often is determined by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
A spokeswoman for Pritzker said hair salons should not reopen until phase three of the reopening plan, “which all of Illinois is on track to meet in just over a week,” but a department spokeswoman clarified that hair restoration and extension providers may open.
“For a person undergoing hair restoration it could be damaging to their scalp. So we said we’re OK’ing this … in recognition of the fact that this is somewhat essential for some people who are experiencing problems because that business wasn’t allowed to reopen,” spokeswoman Lauren Huffman said. The agency later extended the decision to those who offer hair extensions, she said.
When Riley Craig-Shaffer, the 25-year-old owner of the Bow and Arrow salon in Springfield that gets 90% of its business from extensions, prepared to open last week, she says a police commander told her she would eventually be arrested if she ignored ceaseand-desist letters.
When she opened Tuesday, a squad car parked outside her salon for 30 minutes in an attempt to scare her into closing, she says. DeVore also says the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has sent letters to his clients threatening their licenses.
Springfield police didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Even if the tactics were meant to scare Craig-Shaffer, she said it didn’t work.
“I never lived my life in fear with my health, why would I live my life in fear of COVID-19?” she said. “Why would I live my life in fear of losing my license? I built this from the ground up and
I’m going to fight for it.”
Pritzker’s spokeswoman, Jordan Abudayyeh, said in an email that “the state does not have the desire or capacity to individually monitor Illinois’ nearly 13 million residents” and instead has relied on local authorities for help.
“To encourage consistent action statewide, the Stay at Home order is written uniformly, with no special carve-outs for hotel gyms or specialty salons,” she said.
The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is helping individual businesses that contact the agency by either making a decision on whether a set of businesses should be considered essential or by directing callers to previous decisions that may affect them.
“Throughout the duration of the stay-at-home executive order, (the agency) has provided guidance and support to essential businesses, and has issued guidance for those found in a ‘gray area’ of the rules,” Huffman wrote in an email.
The department has decided whether golf should be allowed (approved) and whether to make a distinction between drive-in movie theaters and indoor theaters (drive-ins may open). An agency employee sent a letter to a different salon owner last week noting that “the hair extensions you provide prevents physical and psychological harm.”
Someone forwarded that letter to Craig-Shaffer, and she decided to call DeVore, who is representing small businesses trying to reopen in 47 Illinois counties. DeVore said some of the rules under Pritzker’s plan are being “irrationally,” and “sometimes erroneously,” applied.
DeVore said small-business owners, such as one family-owned group of gyms he represents in Champaign County, were being kept closed while gyms housed within hotels were allowed to reopen according to Pritzker’s latest stay-at-home order. The ability of gyms within hotels to open is written directly into the executive order.
Dan Gordon is one of DeVore’s clients and the owner of six gyms called The Zone. Acting on DeVore’s legal advice, Gordon sent a letter to his local health board for each gym, many of which are in different counties. Five of the six did not receive an objection from the local health board within 48 hours, which is the strategy DeVore has been using for most of his more than 150 business clients in the state.
When local authorities fail to say they will shut down a business, which has happened all but two times, DeVore advises clients they are legally allowed to reopen. Last week, Gordon reopened five of his six gyms, which together employ fewer than 35 people total. But the Champaign County state’s attorney’s office objected, keeping his St. Joseph location closed and spurring another lawsuit against the governor.
“Like most small businesses, we were happy to close for the first 30 days. However, after almost two months of being closed and no end in sight, and losing a lot of memberships … the financial hardship on our business was significant,” Gordon said.
Abudayyeh called attention to the local official’s effort to keep Gordon from reopening.
“The Champaign County state’s attorney went ahead and took the necessary legal action — a textbook example of a local authority acting within her jurisdiction to enforce state law,” she said.
Gordon, like Craig-Shaffer, heard about DeVore when the attorney filed a lawsuit against Pritzker on behalf of Xenia state Rep. Darren Bailey, who on Wednesday was voted off the Illinois House floor for his refusal to wear a face mask. Gordon also thinks the rules are “illogically” applied and says he has had vocal support from the community as he fights a governor he says he can no longer trust because the reopening date has felt like a moving target.
“It’s super frustrating. … I’ve never seen a staff member in a hotel gym,” he said. “You go to my gyms, we’re cleaning nonstop.”