A Dundee barber is considering shutting up shop less than two months after opening as he claims roadworks have “killed” his fledgling business.
Yousif Twana Amin, who runs Yousif’s Barber on Strathmartine Road, said he has been forced to work up to 15 hours a day in another job and borrow money from friends just to pay the shop’s running costs, due to the lack of customers.
A section of Strathmartine Road and some surrounding areas are currently closed to traffic for sewage works as part of a new affordable housing development by Robertson Partnership Homes.
Yousif said: “The road has been closed for around a month now.
“For a new business this is very bad. Initially we had customers and then when the road closed it completely killed all trade.
“They can’t come through with their cars, they have to park far away from the shop and even on foot it can be tricky to get here.
“I’ve got two staff plus rent and bills to pay, so I’ve had to take on another job just to be able to pay the staff wages and other costs.
“I’m working 14 or 15 hours a day and what I’m earning isn’t enough to cover all the costs – I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep this going and I may just have to close the shop.
“If I’d known these roadworks would be happening I wouldn’t have started the business right now in this location, but I only got the letter about the road closure two weeks after opening.”
Yousif added that he has spoken to Robertson Partnership Homes, but still does not have a clear answer about when the work would be completed.
He explained: “They apologised but said there wasn’t much they could do about the roadworks.
“I’ve been told it would all be finished by August, but then I’ve also heard it may be October or even later.
“Nobody seems to know anything and I just don’t know where to turn to.”
Robertson Partnership Homes had not commented by the time of publishing.
