Tempe barber shop closes due to COVID-19 on its 17-year anniversary

5 p.m. came and went Saturday and the Arizona Governor's order for hair and nail salons to close is officially in effect. This goes for barber shops, tattoo and massage parlors as well as spas and tanning salons.

TEMPE, Ariz. - 5 p.m. came and went Saturday and the Arizona Governor's order for hair and nail salons to close is officially in effect.

This goes for barber shops, tattoo and massage parlors as well as spas and tanning salons.

Governor Doug Ducey announced this would take effect Saturday as the coronavirus outbreak continues.

Usually you’d see the open sign lit up at Chavez Barber Shop, instead, it's closed for business. Owner Abel Chavez says its bittersweet because his shop opened for the first time in Tempe.

This isn't something he ever saw coming, he said, his barber shop closing due to a widespread, deadly virus.

But, he also never thought he would be open this long. Saturday is Chavez's barber shop’s 17-year anniversary.

“You get to know their families, their stories, their life, what they been through and that’s something very fulfilling,” Chavez said.

Before the order to close hair and nail salons was announced, Chavez says he planned to spread his barbers out by six feet and have waiting customers stay outside to implement social distancing.

With the shop shut down, Chavez still has to pay rent and his barbers are out of work.

“We rely on people coming in and sitting here and getting a haircut. People don’t come in, we don’t make money,” he explained.

He knows this break is best for everyone’s health, but it's still a tough anniversary. “After 17 years of hard work to see this, to me it’s heartbreaking,” Chavez said.

He’ll miss inside jokes with loyal customers. “This man will cheat on anybody except his barber,” he jokingly said to one of his customers.

But this is a new normal everyone is getting used to. “That’s hard to say bye to many customers for we don’t know how long," he said.