help a small business owner affected by COVID-19
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Vicki's Wash & Wear Haircuts - vickiswashandwearhaircuts.com
I am the sole proprietor of this single-chair haircutting business in Ann Arbor, Michigan business. I'm unable to work due to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus have no income for the duration. I've created this campaign because of the GoFundMe Small Business Relief Initiative that provides matching funds to small businesses after they've raised $500. #smallbusinessrelief
This is the story of my business:
I grew up cutting my three brothers’ hair and later, my friends’ hair in high school and college. After receiving my degree in Film Studies at the University of Michigan and running small movie houses and non-profits, I got licensed and began cutting hair professionally in Ann Arbor in 1980. The first five years were inside Saguaro Plants, a wonderful plant store that had two haircut booths hidden amongst the plants and an 8ft. finch aviary. When Saguaro closed its doors in 1985, I opened my business, Vicki’s Wash & Wear Haircuts, in a little space in downtown Ann Arbor. A Wash & Wear Haircut is my common-sense method of cutting hair. Clients arrive with clean hair that I cut to do what their hair does naturally and inherently. Simultaneously, my shop became the home of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, where I was the Festival Director for 15 years. After wrapping up the 2002 Ann Arbor Film Festival season, I stepped down, allowing a new generation to steer the ship.
My haircut business was going strong, but I found myself with time and space on my hands after parting ways with the Film Festival. I began filling the empty space with artist-made hand crafted items to sell. I placed my first wholesale order with one of the original mixed media artists working with recycled metal. This order, along with some local jewelry, inspired me to name this newly created little boutique “Heavenly Metal.” As my craft sources expanded I offered a wider range of goods made from other materials, including jewelry, apparel, footwear, purses, accessories, ceramics, and recycled wood art. Always a curator at heart, Heavenly Metal became known for the unique, hand crafted items I alone carried. A designer at heart, the store became my outlet to create clever merchandising. The store’s look and feel was a winning foil for the handmade gifts not found elsewhere in Ann Arbor. The two businesses — haircutting shop and store — were synergistic. Clients loved being able to walk out with a fresh haircut, a new pair of earrings, an entire outfit, or a perfect gift. Shoppers loved watching me cut hair!
In 2016 I moved around the corner into a much larger storefront. Sadly, after almost 18 years in the lifestyle retail business, the national retailing shift from brick and mortar to online shopping forced me to close my store and move on to a new chapter.
Closing Heavenly Metal gave me the opportunity to put my creative thinking cap on yet again. I came up with a perfect way to continue my haircutting business in a pleasant, calming environment: I converted my garden/tool shed, nestled against a little goldfish pond in my garden, into the prettiest little haircutting shop. I call it my “haircut cottage.” With lots of natural light and located on my quiet Old West Side street, my hair clients adore the change and intimate space I’ve created.
I have over 100 regular clients, many of whom I’ve been taking care of for nearly 35 years. On Monday, March 16, 2020 I closed up shop because of the coronavirus crisis. My work brings me physically too close to my clients for my safety and their comfort, especially when trimming beards and mustaches.
My haircutting business is my main source of income. To supplement that income, I have been working as a part time bookseller at Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor. At the same time I stopped seeing clients, the owners of Literati Bookstore closed their doors for the safety of their employees and customers. The success of their own GoFundMe campaign ensures their employees a job to return to when life gets back to normal.
GoFundMe has launched a Small Business Relief Initiative to support small businesses facing financial loss from the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the initiative, their Small Business Relief Fund, GoFundMe will be issuing $500 matching grants to qualifying businesses that raise at least $500 on GoFundMe.com.
None of us know when we will be given the go-ahead to be in public spaces again, but I anticipate it will be early summer before I can be in close contact with my clients. Because I now have no income, I've set up a GoFundMe campaign to pay my household and business bills, including mortgage, utilities, marketing, insurance, taxes, and groceries. I am reaching out to my local community and beyond for financial assistance to ensure I have the funds to get through this crisis. I am grateful for whatever amount you able to contribute.
I love working and I look forward to getting back to work and taking care of my clients who are anxiously waiting for my scissors to back into their very over-grown hair! Until then, if you are able, can you please help me keep my expenses paid while I'm not working? Thank you thank you.
I am the sole proprietor of this single-chair haircutting business in Ann Arbor, Michigan business. I'm unable to work due to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus have no income for the duration. I've created this campaign because of the GoFundMe Small Business Relief Initiative that provides matching funds to small businesses after they've raised $500. #smallbusinessrelief
This is the story of my business:
I grew up cutting my three brothers’ hair and later, my friends’ hair in high school and college. After receiving my degree in Film Studies at the University of Michigan and running small movie houses and non-profits, I got licensed and began cutting hair professionally in Ann Arbor in 1980. The first five years were inside Saguaro Plants, a wonderful plant store that had two haircut booths hidden amongst the plants and an 8ft. finch aviary. When Saguaro closed its doors in 1985, I opened my business, Vicki’s Wash & Wear Haircuts, in a little space in downtown Ann Arbor. A Wash & Wear Haircut is my common-sense method of cutting hair. Clients arrive with clean hair that I cut to do what their hair does naturally and inherently. Simultaneously, my shop became the home of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, where I was the Festival Director for 15 years. After wrapping up the 2002 Ann Arbor Film Festival season, I stepped down, allowing a new generation to steer the ship.
My haircut business was going strong, but I found myself with time and space on my hands after parting ways with the Film Festival. I began filling the empty space with artist-made hand crafted items to sell. I placed my first wholesale order with one of the original mixed media artists working with recycled metal. This order, along with some local jewelry, inspired me to name this newly created little boutique “Heavenly Metal.” As my craft sources expanded I offered a wider range of goods made from other materials, including jewelry, apparel, footwear, purses, accessories, ceramics, and recycled wood art. Always a curator at heart, Heavenly Metal became known for the unique, hand crafted items I alone carried. A designer at heart, the store became my outlet to create clever merchandising. The store’s look and feel was a winning foil for the handmade gifts not found elsewhere in Ann Arbor. The two businesses — haircutting shop and store — were synergistic. Clients loved being able to walk out with a fresh haircut, a new pair of earrings, an entire outfit, or a perfect gift. Shoppers loved watching me cut hair!
In 2016 I moved around the corner into a much larger storefront. Sadly, after almost 18 years in the lifestyle retail business, the national retailing shift from brick and mortar to online shopping forced me to close my store and move on to a new chapter.
Closing Heavenly Metal gave me the opportunity to put my creative thinking cap on yet again. I came up with a perfect way to continue my haircutting business in a pleasant, calming environment: I converted my garden/tool shed, nestled against a little goldfish pond in my garden, into the prettiest little haircutting shop. I call it my “haircut cottage.” With lots of natural light and located on my quiet Old West Side street, my hair clients adore the change and intimate space I’ve created.
I have over 100 regular clients, many of whom I’ve been taking care of for nearly 35 years. On Monday, March 16, 2020 I closed up shop because of the coronavirus crisis. My work brings me physically too close to my clients for my safety and their comfort, especially when trimming beards and mustaches.
My haircutting business is my main source of income. To supplement that income, I have been working as a part time bookseller at Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor. At the same time I stopped seeing clients, the owners of Literati Bookstore closed their doors for the safety of their employees and customers. The success of their own GoFundMe campaign ensures their employees a job to return to when life gets back to normal.
GoFundMe has launched a Small Business Relief Initiative to support small businesses facing financial loss from the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the initiative, their Small Business Relief Fund, GoFundMe will be issuing $500 matching grants to qualifying businesses that raise at least $500 on GoFundMe.com.
None of us know when we will be given the go-ahead to be in public spaces again, but I anticipate it will be early summer before I can be in close contact with my clients. Because I now have no income, I've set up a GoFundMe campaign to pay my household and business bills, including mortgage, utilities, marketing, insurance, taxes, and groceries. I am reaching out to my local community and beyond for financial assistance to ensure I have the funds to get through this crisis. I am grateful for whatever amount you able to contribute.
I love working and I look forward to getting back to work and taking care of my clients who are anxiously waiting for my scissors to back into their very over-grown hair! Until then, if you are able, can you please help me keep my expenses paid while I'm not working? Thank you thank you.
Organizer
Vicki Honeyman
Organizer
Ann Arbor, MI