‘Target’ construction poses problems for Kanata barber shop
Posted Jun 14, 2013 02:23:11 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA-The owner of a barber shop in Hazledean Mall says her business is struggling to stay afloat, amid construction on the new Target store.
Jessie Mancini owns Barberia Barber Shop which is next store to the former Zellers and says the noise and dust has driven away customers.
On Wednesday, she was fined $287 by the mall because her staff closed the barber shop nine minutes early.
“I just feel like it’s a low blow,” says Mancini. “They all know I’m a hard worker. I work a lot of hours and it’s not that I’m not trying.”
Mancini says her staff shut the doors at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday because they didn’t have any customers.
She says the mall was empty and it was too late take a new haircut appointment, which takes about half an hour.
The 31-year-old also owns Heavenly Edge Spa, located in the plaza outside the mall and says she is working 80-hour weeks to try and keep both businesses open.
Mancini says the fine from the mall might be her breaking point and doesn’t know how much longer Barberia Barber Shop can stay open.
“I just keep working,” she says, breaking into tears. “How many hours can you put in, in a day? I’m not sure.”
Between sobs Mancini explains her staff has been shrinking so she can pay the shop’s $4,800 rent.
“I had a full-time desk person and I had to let go of them,” she says. “And there has been barbers that have left because their pay and their hours were cut so dramatically.”
Mancini says she hopes the mall will live up to its promise of extra advertising, otherwise her mom-and-pop shop might be boarded up when Target opens.
