Owners of The Vanilla Room and Utopia Beauty & Advanced Skincare urged the government to support the hair and beauty industry as a “matter of urgency” to stop “mass business closures”.
They said they have been “hit with a huge amount of rising costs” since the beginning of April, including increased business rates and Employer National Insurance contributions.
Hornchurch salons told the Recorder they have been forced to reduce employee hours, limit the number of apprentices they take on, and in some cases even let staff members go.
Stefania Rossi, director of Utopia Beauty & Advanced Skincare, said her High Street beauty salon is at risk of closure if nothing changes soon.
“Because of this massive, crazy storm of rising costs, we are very very far from breaking even,” Stefania told the Recorder.
“We have no profit margin to reinvest in any part of our business.
“It is very sad that we will be potentially considering letting the salon go if something doesn’t get done as a matter of urgency.
“We are at breaking point if this doesn’t get addressed.”
The small business owner said she has been looking at different options – including a change in opening hours – in an effort “to save jobs”.
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She said: “The majority of my team have been with me over 13 years, and the whole of my team is women-led.
“I have single mothers, all of my girls have mortgages, most of them have children – so it is quite worrying for them.”
However, Stefania does not want to put the costs onto clients either, and worries about pushing people away by increasing prices.
“It would only be a very small drop in the ocean [to increase prices], as we have already noticed that clients are spending less,” she said.
“There is also a little bit more time between [clients’] visits, so that is also affecting our margins.”
Kerry Larcher, owner of The Vanilla Room, told the Recorder that she has been forced to reduce trainee hours and the number of apprentices she is taking on in response to an increase in the apprentice minimum wage.
“For the first time in 30 years of being in Hornchurch high street we have had to cut our apprentice hours to keep the ones we’ve got until the end of their apprenticeship,” Kerry said.
“I’m a big employer of apprentices – apprenticeships are how I grow the future hairdressers of Havering.
“It’s a really self-fulfilling problem as if I don’t train apprentices where do the future hairdressers come from?”
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She said that even when she is able to hire an apprentice, she is often not able to keep them on as a stylist at the end of their apprenticeship – and no one else will hire them either.
“Nobody is taking them on because their wage bill is too expensive, so they’re literally walking out the door and getting binned.
“My phone since the end of March has not stopped ringing with apprentices saying ‘my salon is letting me go’.
Kerry agreed with Stefania that her business is experiencing a “perfect storm” of rising costs – but does not want to increase what she is charging clients.
“Ultimately, we’re in trouble,” Kerry said.
“If you walk around the high street, we [the salons] have all been there years – how can this be going on?
“It’s just shocking.”
Hornchurch and Upminster MP Julia Lopez recently raised the issue in Parliament, urging the government to support high street salons by reviving apprenticeship schemes and restoring business rate relief.
She said: “I sincerely hope the government will hear the debate we’ve had and listen to the concerns which salon owners and hairdressers have raised with me over the last few weeks.”
The Treasury did not respond to our request for comment.
