KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the saying goes, "When you look good, you feel good," and looking good may start to get more costly.
"If you come to me, I gotta give you a heads up,"Beauty Icon KC Owner, Bahaa Jbara, said.
Jbara is giving a heads-up about the recent tariffs and what they mean for his customers.
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"Panic," Jbara said when he first heard the news. "As a small business owner, we're trying to survive. But with the prices going up, it's going to be a struggle."
The Trump Administrationrecently announced a 145% tariff on imported goods from China, where 75% of the store's items come from.
It's the reason why Beauty Icon KC shared this post on social media:
"I'm trying to hold back on everything, from hiking the prices," Jbara said. "But eventually, I have to hike the prices because I will not survive. I will go out of business."
Jbara continued, "We are doing our best from sales, to discounts, to variety of products, to having everything that you need, so when you come over here. So we're trying our best, but it's still... if the prices are going to hike a lot, we are going to struggle."
Customers I spoke with are stylists and stated that even if prices go up, they'll keep coming.
"It is a priority, especially because I've got my own business going on, so if stuff goes up, you just gotta go up yourself just to keep it going," one customer said. "I just gotta be prepared for it mentally, financially."
"I don't want to have to change my prices just so they can feel good about their head," another customer said. "People struggle trying to get their hair done. Everyone should feel good about their hair. That's the crown
Jbara shared what the costs of synthetic wigs would look like in the next few weeks.
"This one is priced at $129.99," Jbara said. "So if this wig costs me $100 and I sell it at $130, you've got to add another 75%, which means this wig is gonna cost me $175. I'm gonna sell it to you for $200."
Jbara said as a beauty supply owner, he's looking at different vendors from different countries, such as Cambodia, Bangladesh or India. He says customers can expect prices to go up May 1.
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