Coronavirus: Still London owner shares advice to techs facing salon closures
By Sophie Nutt | 20 March 2020 | Expert Advice, Feature
Shelly Elson, founder and creative director of Still London, explains why she made the decision to close the salon doors from Tuesday morning and shares advice to fellow techs facing similar difficulties…
Closing any business is heart wrenching, even on a temporary basis, and the decision to close Still London was one of the hardest decisions that I have ever had to make.
Many salon owners right now will be agonising over the same thoughts we had, trying to weigh up the pros and cons and attempting to come up with a solution that is best for everyone involved. We had to look at the situation from both a business perspective that involved huge financial implications for both us and our staff, as well as a personal perspective with an overwhelming responsibility to protect the wellbeing of employees and our clients. However, we are in the wellbeing industry and once we established we couldn’t hand on heart guarantee the safety of our clients and staff, the decision was made.
We decided to communicate our message to clients about the salon closure through every social media channel and followed this up with a newsletter, explaining exactly why we had taken this decision. The positive reaction was overwhelming!
By now we had already seen clients purchasing gift cards, so we highlighted this to be an option, as well as communicating that we would not set an expiry date on them. Again, the response has been so positive with a vast amount of gift cards ordered. There is most definitely a strong sense of community and support that people want small local businesses to survive.
From business owners to nail technicians, to beauty therapists, there are going to be moments of clarity and calm, as well as moments of total blind panic, but my advice in the first instance – after going through all of these emotions myself – is to try and gain some control by speaking to landlords, service providers and banks, as this helped me tremendously.
I am also going to spend the time now, which is something we don’t always have, to analyse our business; look at any improvements and changes that we can make to move forward to become better and stronger. We are fortunate enough to have a website with retail products, so this too will be a focus so that we can offer a little bit of ‘still’ at home.
I feel that one of the most challenging issues we face now is the way that we communicate over the coming weeks on social media and the balance between sales and compassion. However, I do think we will all find our own voices during this time to what feels right.
Coronavirus is a global issue and there is a strong sense that we are all in this together – we will all get through this.