The Road To Normal (The Journey Ahead)
It’s been close to 4 months since the last update from the shop, so here’s a quick recap of some of the things you may have missed.
The shop launched stickers and apparel! This series is called “Be your own hero,” and features The Storyteller as a rogue, tank, or sorcerer class.
Stickers are available as 3 for $5 or in a pack that includes a pin for $10
Tri-blend shirts were carefully selected to be incredibly soft, ethically produced, and printed in the United States. Individually priced at $30, or you can grab all three designs for $75.
Buy all three shirts and get a sticker/pin pack free!
While supplies last
We were closed for 2 weeks in June due to a barber testing positive for COVID-19.
This experience was a huge lesson in a few things.
First and foremost, no client came into the shop with COVID, a barber was exposed to a family member while not wearing a mask at a bar.
We contact traced to the initial exposure and reached out to every individual who had entered the shop from that point to inform them that we would be going to St. Als to get tested as a shop, and we would let them know the results as soon as they were available.
Due to the fact that the shop requires masks from all clients and barbers, only the individual barber had test results that came back positive. There was not a single other barber or client who tested positive as a result of exposure in the shop.
As a precautionary measure, all barbers maintained their full 14 days of quarantine from the date of testing, even after test results came back negative for 3/4 of the team.
This has been a litmus test in a small setting that further instills our belief that masks are effective, and we will continue enforcing that rule.
We placed 2nd in the Best of Boise!
2020 - 2nd place .
Something positive came out of this year, and we are entirely grateful for all of the support that comes from our friends, family, and clients who continue to see our passion and drive us forward
We’ve moved back to our normal shop schedule.
After closing up for 2 weeks due to the positive testing, I had a knee-jerk reaction to keep our reduced schedule to prevent any further outbreak. We discussed it as a team and got the opinions of our clients, and we came to a very apparent realization.
With the current testing capabilities, it is unrealistic to expect to find results within 72 hours of your initial exposure to someone who has COVID-19. Within those first 72 hours, any barber exposed would guaranteed to be in contact with every other barber in the shop, so we would need to close entirely as a shop for 14 days, regardless of the schedules we worked.
Due to the fact that all of our stations are already maintaining the social distancing guideline of being set up more than 6 feet apart from one another, we have decided that cultivating our award winning shop culture is an essential part of what The Barber Story offers to the Treasure Valley.
In a time that community interaction is drastically reduced by working from home, reducing your contact in public places, and generally limiting all human connection, we want to be a place where you can still come to relax in a way that you have for the past three years.
We still require temperature checks at the door, hand sanitizer upon entry and exit, freshly laundered capes for every client, and face coverings are mandatory for everyone inside the barbershop.
Barbers are additionally required to change face masks between clients, as well as compulsory hand washing in any instance of cross contamination.
So that’s where we’ve been for the past few months, but there’s a question that keeps coming up in my chair.
“When are you going to start offering beard services again?”
Short answer - “Not anytime soon.”
COVID-19 has oddly become the single most politicized illness in my lifetime. More than SARs, MERS, H1N1, or anything else I’ve lived through. Hair tends to be a great equalizer because everyone with an opinion eventually needs to get their hair cut. Being someone who works behind the chair, I have heard things that range from selfless compassion for others, while the next person in the chair may lean much closer to blatant racism and intolerance (side note, that is not tolerated in any form in our business, and we recently fired a client for showing up to a downtown protest sporting nazi iconography with pride. #FuckNazis). Some people are terrified by this virus because of the underlying health issues of family members, others are infuriated by it because they believe it to be part of a conspiracy to amass power in government or disrupt economic operations. Some look at the death toll in America and the responses made by other countries as the appropriate way to act, while others continue to say that the CDC is lying about or inflating the real numbers.
For the better part of a year, misinformation has clouded both sides with a significant amount of doubt. Worse yet, there is no government agency or governing body that is providing any clear sense of direction, so the decision to go back to a full menu is entirely in the hands of the business owner. I have always been an individual who thrives in the ability to have certainty and control over my surroundings (my brother is probably laughing his ass off with this confession) and I have made the decision to maintain a facial covering mandate within my barbershop until the medical community at large stops recommending them.
In my opinion, I think these are the hurdles we (as a country) will need to jump in order to reach that goal.
Vaccines reaching a stage that are determined safe for mass human trials.
Production of a safe and viable vaccine reaching quantities that can be delivered to the general populous.
I believe the first wave of production will be prioritized to high risk individuals, first responders, and essential workers.
US supply of syringes to be produced to a quantity that will allow the delivery of a safe vaccine to the general populous
Earlier this year, the Strategic National Stockpile acknowledged that we as a nation have roughly 15 million syringes available, only 2% of the 850 million required for both Covid-19 vaccines, as well as normal flu vaccines. Contracts have gone out to begin production, but we are still only looking at 420 million by the end of 2021, far short of the necessary requirement to nip this in the bud. (PhysiciansPractice.com Article)
These are not obstacles that can be quickly overcome. It will take time, and realistically speaking, I think it is a proper expectation to say that we won’t see most of the milestones happen until late 2021, if not early 2022.
I’d love to say I’m wrong and that one day we’ll all wake up from this nightmare of a year. But like I said, I need to have certainty in my decisions, and even if you disagree with my decision, it is being made with a significant amount of consideration to the reality we all face.
At the end of the day, there are still barbershops in the Treasure Valley doing beard services, and some of them won’t require you to wear a facial covering. Since the state is not enforcing their own rules, it is at the business owner’s discretion to do what is right for their business, and it is at the discretion of the consumer to use their freedom of choice to make the decision that works best for them. I am simply making a stance to say that I would rather be the guy who did too much instead of being the guy who didn’t do enough.
Having explained all of that, I prefer my short answer of, “Not anytime soon.”
Now that you’ve read where we have been the past few months and where our head is at for the future, I want to say that everyone at the shop hopes you are all doing well. We’ve seen many of you taking to heart the recommendations of sheltering in place, and between social distancing and zoom meetings, we’ve noticed that the typical 4 week appointments have become 6 week appointments. We miss your faces, but this new availability alongside a third year win has presented to us a new opportunity to meet new clients that were previously intimidated by our multiple week wait to get in our books. If there was ever a time to present yourself with the gift of self care, now is the best time! Book your appointments online, and remember to bring your mask, but we’ll see you at the shop soon!
-Chris
