Some small business owners are pushing back against the forced closing of their companies by government mandate.
In Solano County, two businesses vow to reopen before it’s legal to do so.
Lia Rivera opened Hairendipity Hair Salon in Vacaville when she was pregnant with her third child Jaden and there’s no way she’s letting it slip away now.
“The challenges that came with that in the first two years it was just nonstop,” she said. Solano county’s shelter-at-home order is on the books till May 17, so when Lia reopens Tuesday at 2 p.m., it will be illegal.
For her, public health and safety will be job one.
“Anyone who enters the building will have a mask,” Rivera said, adding that the two stylist in the salon will practice safe distancing when they tend to their appointment-only clients. “Spraying down those surfaces, even the floor,” she said.
She says she has no choice. She says she’s tried every financial assistance program available and received nothing. The salon owner said she’s ready if the cops show up.
“It’s perfectly within the shelter-in-place guidelines to mingle with groups under 10, these are families and friends,” Rivera said.
Just up the street from Hairendipity is Primo’s Barber Shop, where owner Juan Desmarais plans his own reopening on Friday.
“There’s no end in sight to this, so I believe there’s a constitutional right for us to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness right now,” Desmarais said,
Both Desmarais and Rivera say they don’t think they’ll go to jail, but if they do get fined, it’ll all be worth it.
