Hairport Reopens, but ‘No Drive-Thru Haircuts’

RIO GRANDE — Hugs and smiles greeted stylist Jennifer Velli of Villas as she entered Hairport hair salon, Friday, July 31 just before 9 a.m. It was the first time back to work since June 30.
At 4:20 p.m. that day, a car, driven by Joseph Hasson, crashed through the front of the salon.
Velli “got pushed right from the front of the car all the way to the back of the shop underneath all the hydraulic chairs and then there was a lady pinned up against the wall,” Karen Woulfe told the Herald at the time.
“Four weeks from the accident we reopened,” said proprietor Kathy Janicki after she welcomed Velli back to work, and before Velli started on a patron who seemed happy to be back in the chair, ready to begin her appointment.
“We were out for three weeks,” Janicki said. During that span, other area salons opened their doors and chairs to allow Hairport’s seven stylists to continue to serve clients and earn a living. Janicki expressed her gratitude to those salons for their acts of kindness.
As a good-humored gesture, Janicki hung a temporary banner across the front of the salon, “Now Open, No Drive thru haircuts.”
“You have to have a sense of humor,” she said.
A yellow final inspection sign, proving the structure is safe and sound, remained in the window.
New yellow additions Janicki added “voluntarily,” are heavy posts, cemented into the ground that protect the front of the salon.
“We don’t want that to happen ever again,” said Janicki.
In addition to Velli, four customers were injured, while Hasson, was uninjured in the accident, according to Middle Township police.
Parts of this story were first published at capemaycountyherald.com
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com