The owner of a Sarnia hair salon says she's grateful to still have her business at this point.
Moda Hair Salon Owner Najwa Aboshawish said she's not happy about being closed until June 30, when Ontario is scheduled to enter Stage 2 of its reopening roadmap, but she wants to respect the decision of the province and abide by the rules as best as she can.
Aboshawish talked about what these past 15 months have been like for her salon.
"Everybody is very stressed out, everybody is emotional. I feel like we've lost a lot of employees that have had to move back home. It's very difficult for everyone financially, emotionally, mentally, and we're trying our best to be understanding with everybody, but obviously we have to do what we have to do for the business."
Aboshawish said she used to have around 26 employees and now that number is down to about 18.
She said she is not the only one struggling in the personal care sector and there are people that have it so much worse than her.
"It really humbles me, this experience, because everybody's struggling so much right now. At first I was scared because I thought it was just me, but then having friends that are in the industry and hearing what they're going through as well -- as sad as it sounds, it's comforting to know that you're not the only one going though it."
Aboshawish said she's optimistic things are going in the right direction.
"It's kind of hard to say that to people when everybody's upset and it's hard to voice your opinions in this situation because you don't want to offend the wrong people," she said. "And I don't know because I haven't been affected by COVID in the sense of losing a loved one and I feel like that's way more important than having my business shut down."
Aboshawish said she'll be ready to reopen later this month.