Sandra Davies and Madi Clark, partners in the DC Krew Hair Company salon in uptown White Rock, feel as though they’ve been doing all the right things in following pandemic health and safety rules and guidelines for the safety of clients and staff alike.
That’s why they were particularly disappointed to discover Thursday morning (July 22) that their salon, at 1538 Foster St., had been targeted for what they’re calling “cowardly” anti-masker graffiti.
After closing up shop at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday they arrived at 8:30 a.m. the next day to find the words ‘#MASK NAZIS’ scrawled across the salon’s front windows in orange spray paint.
With the help of the White Rock RCMP constable dispatched to investigate, the paint was removed by 9:45 a.m. Police are now reviewing security camera footage to try to identify the perpetrator, Davies told Peace Arch News later Thursday morning.
“We feel it was done early in the morning, because the paint was still tacky when we got there,” Davies said.
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She acknowledged that the salon is currently asking clients to wear masks, but maintains they have not had a single negative reaction from patrons – or staff, who are also wearing masks – about the policy.
“We’re a small business that has been highly affected by COVID and we still have restrictions on activities in our industry,” she explained.
“We’re asking that everyone wear masks because we can’t social distance – when we’re washing hair or cutting hair we’re in your personal space.
“Also, out of a staff of nine, we have five who are double-vaccinated and the other four are waiting for their second shot. We’ve been told that if two of our employees get sick (WorkSafe) can shut us down completely.”
DC Krew, which had barely been open 10 weeks when the pandemic state of emergency was declared last March, already endured being shut down for 10 weeks following that.
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“And when we could open again we had a lot of restrictions – we had to have distancing, we could only have so many chairs, we had to change all our shifts,” Davies said.
She said that everybody on staff is “on board” with wearing masks at present, and taking all other recommended precautions – including intensive sanitizing – until restrictions can be lifted further.
“Everybody’s worried about a fourth wave. If we get another shut-down, a lot of businesses won’t survive that.”
Ritu Khanna, executive director of the South Surrey and White Rock Chamber of Commerce, commented that it was “very disappointing” that someone in the comunity would deface a business for any reason.
“DC Krew is a member of the chamber but we also speak for all businesses in the community on this matter,” she said.
“This is completely unacceptable at any time but especially now, as most small businesses are just starting to make their way back through the pandemic from significant revenue losses due to public health orders and restrictions. We need to support our local businesses, not create further challenges or issues for them.”
Davies said that she and Clark and their staff are “really disappointed” that the salon was targeted in this way.
“We feel we’re doing the right thing. We’re trying to have a very comfortable environment for our clients to come into. And we have fantastic clients – when we explain it to them, they totally get it,” she said.
“But somebody doesn’t get it,” she added, calling the actions of the anonymous spray-painter “cowardly.”
“If you have a question about what we’re doing, come and ask me. If you have a problem with it, come and talk to me – don’t deface our business,” she said.
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