Hair’s great news
Qns. barbershop a huge part of the community
Let’s hope he’s the only corona that makes a comeback.
José Corona, 46, said he’s relieved to reopen his Jackson Heights, Queens, barbershop — both for himself and the neighborhood.
“The barbershop is a part of the community, where people come for a haircut, some advice or just someone to talk to,” he said. “[Before the coronavirus], people would be hanging out, shooting the s--t and drinking a beer.”
His regulars at Corona Barbershop Plus have missed that, as well as his expertise.
“Barbershops are an essential thing to someone’s look. It makes you feel fresher or cleaner, like back to life. You’re not looking like a hobo,” said Roger Velasquez, 41, who has been getting his hair cut by Corona for 22 years. Returning for a fresh cut, he said, “It feels like things are getting back to normal.”
Corona admitted, however, that things aren’t quite the way they were: “Business is OK, but I wouldn’t say it’s back to normal.”
But he’s found a creative way to protect his customers and employees: installing $1,300 worth of dividers to isolate each of the seven chairs. Otherwise, the barbers would have had to stagger schedules in order to socially distance, further hurting their income.
Corona is proud that he’s been able to bring back all six subcontracted barbers, especially since his landlord declined to give him a $500 reduction on his $4,500 monthly rent during the four months the shop was closed.
“I filed for free food and unemployment, and that helped me a little bit,” said Corona, who also received a Small Business Administration loan. “That was some sense of relief. It was very frustrating, the uncertainty of not knowing if things would ever go back to normal.”
To help cover the additional costs — including $400 for a professional cleaner to disinfect the shop before reopening, a practice he plans to continue every month — Corona raised the price of haircuts by $5. The prices are staggered by age. Kids, young adults and adults pay $20, $25 and $30, respectively.
“We’re wearing facial masks and gloves, have hand sanitizer as soon as you come in and have thermometers to take people’s temperatures,” Corona said.
He opened his shop in 2001, about four years after giving his first cut. It all started after Corona — who described himself as a “hothead” in his youth — was fired from a maintenance company. He was hanging out at a barbershop run by his cousin when a friend ran in needing a quick cleanup. But all the professional barbers were with other customers.
“He said, ‘Just grab the clippers and clean the back of my neck real quick,’ ” Corona said.
He loves what he does, which made being closed even harder. Still, Corona managed to sneak in a favor or two for his regulars.
“We did a private haircut on a rooftop since he wasn’t able to open the shop — more of like the friends-and-family kind of thing,” Velasquez said. “He spaced it out so nobody else was on the roof besides me and him.”
Corona is ready for things to truly return to normal, but he sees his customers still have pain to work through — and he’s happy to give them a place to do it with friends.
“The barbershop is a beacon of our community, where everyone comes feeling tired from work and stressed from everyday life and its struggles and leaves feeling refreshed,” Corona said.
“It’s the best and cheapest form of therapy.”
And even with all the problems the pandemic has caused, one thing won’t change: the name of Corona Barbershop Plus.
Said the owner: “You’d have to be really ignorant to think that the name of the business could hurt.”