Outdoor Dining, Non-Essential Retail and Salons Can Reopen This Month

UPDATE: Governor Murphy confirmed today that when salons open next week, this will include not only hair salons, but nail salons as well.

New Jersey is ready to move to  the second stage of the state’s road back plan. This means that outdoor dining, non-essential retail and salons will be able to reopen in a few weeks. 

Restaurants will be able to allow customers to have sit down outdoor dining starting Monday, June 15th. While there will be social distancing rules in place, and other health and cleaning restrictions coming from the Department of Health later this week, this means you’ll be able to sit and relax and eat dinner on patios and sidewalks around the state. 

Non-essential retail stores will also be allowed to reopen on June 15th. Murphy’s team hasn’t released full information on what that will mean in terms of how many people are allowed to shop at a given time, or if masks will be required, but says that full guidance will be coming from the Department of Health later this week. So if you’ve been itching to help your local small businesses by shopping, you’ll be able to do so very soon. 

And if you’re desperate to get rid of those grays or have your haircut by a professional, you’ll be able to do that starting June 22nd. Salons and barbershops will be able to reopen with social distancing restrictions and increased cleaning regulations that will be released from the Department of Health this week. 

For those desperate to get back to the gym, he advised that a reopen date for those will be coming soon. 

Murphy also shared the news that New Jersey is now first in the nation when it comes to testing. The Garden State now has  the most daily tests per capita. That and the downward hospitalization trends have made the state ready to move slowly into Stage 2 of the state’s restart program. Murphy did acknowledge that if there is an increase in cases, he will course correct and push dates back accordingly.