Last year, like so many other New Jerseyans, Danny Bermudez faced a huge business hurdle. He had operated a Vineland barbershop for 10 years and then found that the pandemic slowed his business to crawl, and then to a stop.

He was forced to close his shop due to the pandemic and did not receive unemployment for 16 weeks. Neither did his wife.

Bermudez thought he had come up with the perfect plan for his barbershop, The Dugout.

Having won a Winnebago in a raffle back in 1995, Danny made plans to set up shop in there and to drive around proffering his barbering skills from his mobile home.

But alas, it was illegal at the time to operate a mobile hair salon in New Jersey.

Enter state Sen. Mike Testa who happened to have been a client of The Dugout. He saw the injustice and used his influence to bring awareness and eventually to help create a new law, legalizing mobile hair salons.

The law, which takes effect in March, helps bring haircuts, manicures, pedicures and other salon services to people via mobile salons on wheels. This isn’t just convenient. It can be essential for those who are homebound or immobile.

Yes, there are a few restrictions. One of them is that services can only be provided while their vehicle is stationary. Too bad. It would be interesting to get a haircut, shave or manicure while flying down the Parkway at 80 mph.

Seriously, though. This just makes sense. In a state where small business is so often underappreciated, this is an idea whose time has come.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

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