Long queues were seen outside Kmart Hastings on Thursday. Photo / Paul Taylor
After 42 haircuts by 9.40am, Peter Foote was just about ready for lockdown again.
But with clippers in hand, the Emerson Street Barbers owner and his workers kept going, cutting away at an extra seven weeks of hair growth.
Since late March, lone tables, adorned with Covid-19 signage, have monopolised Napier's CBD.
But that changed overnight as day one of level 2 dawned on Thursday.
Cafe tables emerged and people slowly returned to their usual spots and favourite places.
Men who were ready to cut their lockdown locks formed a line at Emerson Street Barbers which spread to the street.
Staff had missed their customers and barber MJ said she had even wanted to open at midnight.
While the doors didn't open at 12am the day began six hours later with people ready and waiting, Foote said.
The morning was frantic, he said, but it was what they lived for.
Around the corner on Dalton St Cindy Vu from Cindy's Nails and Spa was catching up with a regular customer.
Yvonne usually gets her nails done by Cindy every three to four weeks but due to the lockdown it had been 11 weeks since her last appointment.
Appointments are mostly the same except now a plastic screen with a hole in the bottom for the customer to put their hands through separates them and the nail technician.
Regular customers could book in advance and the store had extended its hours until demand waned.
Up on Tennyson St, Graham Bell from Alexanders on Tennyson said the long-running Napier store was overjoyed to welcome customers back.
"We've been building up to it for several weeks which have been very trying at times but at last it's happening, it's a good feeling," Bell said.
Weekends and Mondays are the busiest time and Bell is expecting the weekend to pickup with regular clients from Wellington and Auckland able to make the trip to the shop once again.
Messages of support had been received from Singapore, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne and all around the world, Bell said.
At Market Street Caravan, manager Sandi Reefman said she woke up early, just "so excited to see humans again".
Reefman said all the shop owners and staff had been coming out to greet each other in the morning as "we are all in this together".
Lines of people also gathered outside mobile phone providers, banks and CBD retail staples like Farmers.
In Hastings, those lines got so long, particularly at big box retailers, that some queried the safety of being in them.
One Hastings shopper told Hawke's Bay Today she went to Kmart early this morning and waited about 20 minutes, which she said wasn't bad considering the line was long.
She said that when she arrived many people weren't social distancing and it wasn't until security started to enforce a 2m rule that people started to keep their distance.
She said everyone was offered hand sanitiser at the door and all the shelves were well stocked, and people were able to move through swiftly once inside.
Kmart NZ's representatives were approached for comment.
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