FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Businesses across Northern Virginia are carefully making plans to reopen Friday under the new Phase 1 "Safer at Home" rules.
Among them is Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, Virginia, which is going slowly and gradually towards reopening, in hopes of keeping people safe. The manager said lots of stores are itching to get back in business.
It's still disconcertingly quiet inside the massive Fair Oaks Mall, but desperate customers of the Zoe Salon have been calling like crazy for appointments. "They're ringing the phones off the hook right now," said manager Nora Batty.
The salon posted a tongue-in-cheek video to Facebook about the best ways to style hair while social distancing, including tossing a bucket of water on a customer's head for a shampoo, and then scrubbing her hair with a mop. But the manager insists they can do this for real.
"It's going to be different. It's going to be masks and sanitation. And lots of distance. But the services will come back," said Battey.
The mall has posted signs urging people to keep their distance. And it put up "masks recommended" signs -- before the governor made them mandatory.
"We're super excited to be reopening, That's for sure," said Robbie Stark, the general manager.
Fair Oaks Mall sees 16 million customer visits in an average year. But not all the shops will be open right away. And not all the customers will be ready.
But Stark says they've worked hard to make it safe to go shopping again.
"We've cleaned and sanitized the entire building. We've changed out the filters on the HVAC and followed all the CDC guidelines that apply that we can find," said Stark.
"We've been here for twenty years. We've seen snipers, we've seen recessions. And we'll get through it," said the Zoe Salon manager.
Its been a hugely challenging time for retailers, with many of us switching to online and delivery. But Stark said humans will always be looking for a place to gather, shop and try things on. And he's hoping they'll come back to the mall.