New coronavirus restrictions should involve small business input: John Paul DeJoria
The billionaire entrepreneur warns that coronavirus shutdowns will cause a ripple effect
Billionaire entrepreneur John Paul DeJoria argued that local leaders implementing coronavirus restrictions should seek input from small businesses.
"If any of these people that are passing these laws or shutting these things down ever ran a little business, they’ll know that these little businesses went ahead and did what they’re supposed to do to prevent the spread of the virus and it’s working," the Patron Spirits International co-founder told “Mornings with Maria” on Tuesday.
“At the same time, they keep the City Hall open and all the big places that have to do with government open where even more of it is the spread so I think they should take a look at that again.”
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DeJoria, who in 1980 founded the Paul Mitchell brand with legendary stylist Paul Mitchell, noted that coronavirus restrictions forced “a lot of good nail salons” and hair salons to go out of business because “they can’t pay the rent.”
“So they go to the landlord and say, ‘Hey, please give me a break on the rent, give me half the rent because I want to stay in business,’” DeJoria told host Maria Bartiromo. “The landlord comes and says,’ I can’t do that because I’m maybe working on a 5 or 10% profit maybe, and I have to pay all these bills so If I let your rent go in half, how am I going to pay my will bills to the bank, the mortgages?’”
He stressed that the restrictions during the pandemic affect everybody.
Several governors throughout the country have reinstated safety precautions in recent weeks to combat the rapid spike in coronavirus cases just weeks before large family gatherings and getaway trips traditionally planned for the holidays.
In California, for example, several business owners, including Angela Marsden, the owner of the Pineapple Hill Grill & Saloon in Los Angeles, have complained about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most restrictive order since he imposed the country’s first statewide stay-at-home rule in March. Starting Sunday evening, much of Southern California, the San Francisco Bay area and the Central Valley have been placed under a sweeping new lockdown in an urgent attempt to slow the rapid rise of coronavirus cases.
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The new measures, which include the closures of all bars, hair salons, barbershops, casinos, and indoor and outdoor playgrounds, will remain in place for at least three weeks.
On Monday, California– the nation’s most populous state – reported an increase of 27,227 coronavirus cases and 115 deaths, according to data provided by The New York Times.
DeJoria stressed the need for local officials to consider the input from small business owners before making decisions about lockdowns, saying that they currently are “not doing that.”
“They should look at it and what I think they should do in making these decisions, have a few people on their board or a few people on their committee that are people that are in small businesses and let them know what we’re doing to stop the spread of the virus and at the same time, how you could hurt everyone around us by some of the things you’re doing,” DeJoria said.
Speaking with “Cavuto: Coast to Coast” on Monday, Marsden brought up a similar point, stressing the need for community input before local leaders impose their restrictions on small businesses who are struggling amid the pandemic.
Marsden told host Neil Cavuto on Monday that after California’s new shutdown order, some small businesses will only “make it one month longer.”
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DeJoria warned of a ripple effect from the new coronavirus restrictions.
“Let’s take one segment, the beauty industry, which I am quite familiar with, when you have many states which have just shut down again, all beauty salons, nail salons, skincare aesthetician centers, not only have they put all those small business owners out of work and out of a job, but then it ripples down,” DeJoria told Bartiromo.
He noted that with shutdowns, employees are also out of work and “all the businesses in the neighborhood that focus on them, whether it’s coffee shops, whether it’s restaurants, all those businesses aren’t getting their business anymore.”
“The vendors that supply them, no more business there to be gotten,” he continued. “All of a sudden you have people losing all the way around.”
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DeJoria also noted that salons are sanitary as business owners have been adhering to safety precautions during the pandemic.
“If you walk today into the average beauty, barber salon, beauty school, whether it’s a Paul Mitchell school or any school, or you walk into the nail salons, you walk into these places, it’s as sanitary as walking into a hospital,” he said speaking from Texas.
“I know here in Austin, Texas, you walk in there, and the minute you walk in, immediately they take your temperature,” he continued. “Before you touch a thing, they make you wash your hands. Then they sit you down. You’ve got a plastic shield in front of you.”
“It is so protected so they’re not dealing with the common person’s business, they’re dealing with what they think is correct,” he went on to say.