Case study: Great new kit for barbers

One in three people say their first priority after lockdown is to get their hair cut – that’s good news for Dimitri Loizi, owner of The Barber Club, leading men’s hairdressers based in Brighton and Croydon, south London.

Now the commitment to quality and customer service that’s kept Dimitri and his staff at the top of their game has led them to introduce a range of new measures across the company.

As well as new shop layouts and socially-distanced waiting areas, Dimitri has gone one step further and introduced COVID-19 testing for his staff, so he can make the best decisions to maintain client confidence in his team of barbers.

“We owe it to our clients and our customers to do as much as we can to keep them safe, and testing is an obvious way to build trust,” Dimitri explained.

“We’ve taken advice from experts in occupational health, Express Medicals Ltd, to help us introduce the testing to staff across both our sites, who’ve given us permission to determine their virus status.”

The team at The Barber Club will be tested using finger-prick blood tests, approved for professional use in the UK, which identify if they’ve had the virus and are building up antibodies. “The tests will give us a picture of who’s been infected in the past and is now safe to work with clients, as well as those who we to monitor more carefully,” Dimitri continued. “We’ve completed online, certificated training and have read through the latest educational materials from Express Medicals’ clinical team.”

As more businesses prepare to open across England, Express Medicals Ltd is helping businesses in a range of sectors including dentists, restaurants and now barbers to reassure their customers that staff have taken real care to make sure it’s safe to return.

“We’re delighted to be working with The Barber Club: they’ve shown real commitment to customer safety by testing and by completing the online learning we’ve written with the experts at Imperial College London,” said Dr Dan Hegarty, CEO of Express Medicals Ltd. “We know that some people will be worried about leaving their homes and restarting their lives: The Barber Club has really gone the extra mile to reassure their customers it’s going to be ok. They’ve made a real investment in running a better business in 2020.”