Crystal Lake salon owner Paul Hyland discusses reopen his business

Paul Hyland of Paul Hyland Salon and Day Spa is ready to open as soon as it’s allowed to be. One of the many questions, however, is when and how much to order in terms of supplies and what the future of the business will look like as the state enters Phase 3 of reopening.

“We want to hit the ground running,” said Shelly Hyland, who owns the company with her husband, Paul.

When asked about sanitation, Shelly Hyland responded with, “We are going to step it up.”

Like many other salons, Paul Hyland Salon and Day Spa will be taking advantage of the parking lot as a waiting room. Customers will call upon arrival and will be let in by an employee, their temperature will be taken, they will sign a waiver stating they don’t have any symptoms and then they will wash their hands at a sanitation station before going to their service provider.

“We’ve got masks, we’ve got face shields, we’ve got a lot of protocols in place, we’ve got gloves, we have masks available for our clients if they don’t have it,” Shelly Hyland said.

Air scrubbers that go in the HVAC system have been installed will help to remove contaminants from the air as it flows through the system.

“We’re trying to go all out and provide the safest environment for our staff, we want them to feel comfortable coming back, and also for our clients,” Shelly Hyland said.

There will be partitions between nail technicians and the client and between styling chairs, and only half the chairs will be used because of social distancing.

When everything closed down, Paul and Shelly Hyland went to their insurance providers to file a claim, as they have business interruption insurance that should cover 12 months of lost revenue; however, their claim was denied, Shelly Hyland said.

“Then we found out that insurance companies throughout the country and really throughout the world are circling the wagon and denying anything COVID-related,” she said.

“We worked with a local branch of a big national bank and we were told, ‘You’ll have no trouble getting this [PPP loan]’ and we applied. This bank dragged their feet, dragged their feet, dragged their feet and we got nervous because every day we would see the reports of the money being depleted more and more, and we were very nervous that we weren’t going to get this.”

The Hylands went with American Community after a recommendation and they were approved within a day for their loan.

“Two days later, that money was gone for that first round,” Shelly Hyland said. “We were very, very thankful.”

Shelly Hyland said that it wouldn’t be a problem for them to spend 75% of the Paycheck Protection Program loan on payroll, which is required for the loan to be forgiven, as they have 30 employees.

Paul Hyland asks that customers be patient when trying to set up appointments once the salon opens.

“We’ve got things to work through that we have never faced before,” he said.