Mother-Daughter Duo Loses Local Beauty Studio Due to Fallout of COVID-19

Financial hardship created COVID-19 has forced a local beauty spa and studio in North Point Village Center to shutter its doors.

Ellada Studio (1458 North Point Village Center) closed its doors after the owner struggled to pay $20,000 in monthly rent and other expenses. The owner told Reston Now that the business received no relief from its landlord despite promises of receiving a lower rate before the COVID-19 crisis.

In a May 15 letter to the tenant, Lerner Corp stated that the business’s “obligation to pay rent is unaffected by the current circumstances or any event of force majeure.”

“Then they changed their mind and demanded the difference and the dollars for the time [we were closed],” Aidana Ablyazova, the co-owner, told Reston Now. She partners with her mom, Nurgul, to run the business.

Although the U.S. Small Business Administration offered a $10,000 grant, that amount was nowhere near enough to cover half of the studio’s rent or payroll. The owner applied for other federal grants, but received nothing. The owner and employees will now move over to Taaj Beauty Lounge, a beauty salon in Tysons Corner.

“The business itself is dead,” Ablyazova said. “But my employees are coming with me and I’m going as an employee to now.”

She says it doesn’t make sense to rent or have a business during the public health crisis.

The mother-daughter duo first opened Ellada Studio at North Point Village Center in November 2016.

Hair Cuttery, which is located at 1434 North Point Village Center, also appears to have closed, according to a message posted on its storefront.

Photos by Laura Crielly