Home-based salons hurting business, say salon owners
Manama : Unlicensed home-based beauty salons are dealing a huge blow to the growth of salon business in the Kingdom, shop owners complained yesterday, adding that the issue is left unresolved, as the laws involving these areas are not changed.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg as there are also several other unresolved issues in the sector which require the immediate attention of the authorities,” Samah Mahdi, who owns a Salon in Janabiya, told DT News.
He was speaking during a consultative meeting by the Salon Owners’ Committee of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) headed by Khawla Bu Haji held jointly with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism yesterday at the Bait Al Tijjar. The meeting provided salon owners like Samah Mahdi, an opportunity to raise their issues directly to the officials.
Highlighting his concerns, Samah Mahdi, during the meeting, requested the officials to review the current tax system, which now requires salon owners to pay an extra fee for every specific activity.
“Even if I have to add a service like a haircut or henna, I have to pay a separate fee,” he explained adding: “The CR fee is also increased 100 per cent.”
Besides discussing the threats posed by the home-based salons, the meeting also discussed the impact of illegal workers and workers with flexible work permit on the sector, rising fees, and the role of the ministry in supervising and monitoring cosmetics and advertisement campaigns.
In this regard, Mahdi told DT News that the salon owners are now paying a medical insurance fee of BD170 per employee a year to the government, “but when my employee goes to a hospital they are charged BD7 for registration.”
“This is a big problem,” he said adding: “If the employees are covered by the insurance why are we paying an extra fee?”
“Why are we charged so much when we are getting nothing in return,” he questioned.
“We are paying for the employees’ social and medical insurances, but we don’t get compensated if the services are not used,” he said.
Higher attrition level
Salon owners also pointed out that it would take them at least eight months to train an employee, “but when they are good they simply leave.”
Highlighting the huge expenses incurred in the process, which includes LMRA fees, agents’ payment in case of Asian employees and their tickets, salon owners insisted that a law is required making it mandatory for the employees to stay at least for a period of two years.
“The officials should realise that it needs time to train people and if they are moving like this we would never make our businesses stable,” added Mahdi.
Meanwhile, another Salon owner, Latifa Eid, said that there is a need for revising the current salon tax system.
“There are some small salons that don’t make as much as profit as the big salons and spa’s, but everyone pays the same fee which is not fair,” he said adding: “So we request the government to come up with a fair way of charging based on revenues.”
“There are many issues in our sector that go un-noticed and till date, nothing has been resolved, apart from raising the fee and increasing our cost,” another participant complained.
Officials respond
Responding to the issues, Hameed Rahma, Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic Trade, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism told DT News that the ministry will take all necessary measures to solve the issue of illegal home-based salons.
Rahma, however, pointed out that the issue regarding employees need to be addressed with the Ministry of Labour, as it comes under their jurisdiction.
“We will try our best to solve the issues that come under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism,” Rahma said.
In his response, Chairman of BCCI Saloons Owner’s sector committee, Khawla Ibrahim Buhiji, told DT News, “We are keen on solving the problems faced by the Salon owners and would like to add that the CR fee has increased for all the sectors, not just one, but we would try our best to resolve the issues.”
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