By Gabriella Payne
The sun was shining on Friday morning as many shaggy-haired locals took to the streets with a spring in their step.
After months of living with their lockdown locks, the first place many people flocked on the morning of 22 October was their local hairdresser, and the excitement in the air was plain to see.
Mario Fallachi, the owner of Berwick’s New York Barbers and Fallachi Hair, said that people had begun lining up outside his business well before their doors swung open at 8am, and it was incredibly heartwarming to see.
“When we started off at 8am, there was already a two and a half hour wait time – and that blew out to four hours at one point, there were that many people,” Mr Fallachi said.
“It was pretty ridiculous, but also really humbling to think that one of the first places that people think of [when restrictions eased] was to come to my place to get a haircut – it’s very humbling.”
While Fallachi Hair (the ladies salon) was fully booked on Friday and remains in high demand for the next few weeks, the New York Barbers tried to get to as many people as they could, and Mr Fallachi said they cut over 150 people’s hair in their first day of trade alone – despite density limits.
“This time around it was a lot harder than last year [when we reopened post-lockdown] because then, we were able to do it with 10 barbers, but this time restrictions mean we can only have five, so there are longer wait times unfortunately,” he said.
“But one of the things that I was thinking about over the weekend is that it’s just amazing that all these people that have been vaccinated are the reason that I’ve been able to open my shops again.
“I am just so overwhelmed and grateful for that.”
Mr Fallachi said that while both businesses would certainly be under the pump for at least the next few weeks, he wanted to thank every single person who had done “the right thing” and got vaccinated, as they had made it possible for him and his staff to get back to doing what they love.
“Every morning when I open the doors and tell people they can come in, I’m just so grateful,” he said.
“We’ve had some really hard times but the future is looking really promising.”
