Alexa, should I go out once? Amazon opens a hair salon in London

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The world’s largest online retailer opens one 1,500-square-foot two-story salon equipped with new technology, including augmented reality hair consultations and learning and information screens that offer customers information, videos and educational content when they point to a product on a shelf, according to a press release of Amazon (AMZN).

As for Covid-19 security protocols, the show will maintain a reduced capacity and employees will check the temperature of customers on arrival. Free face masks and hand sanitizer will be provided. Guests will be required to wear masks and separate screens will be used to divide the style stations.

The general public will have to wait a few weeks before getting an Amazon headdress for themselves. Initially, the salon would only be open to company employees. Amazon currently has no plans to open any other locations, according to a company press release.

The London Motor Show is the latest example of Amazon’s growing footprint of bricks and mortar. The e-commerce giant currently operates dozens of Amazon Go cashless convenience stores, Amazon’s 4-star general merchandise stores, and around 500 Whole Foods locations. Amazon has also recently opened several Amazon Fresh stores in London, as well as a free grocery store.

Amazon Salon arrives when the beauty industry is ready to return. After more than a year of wearing the “casual look”, consumers are eager to return to their pre-pandemic style. Rising demand for body waxes, eyelash extensions and shampoo and blast combinations offers some hope that consumers will come out of the cocoons after months of social isolation. The fall in demand driven by a pandemic service-focused decimated businesses, such as restaurants, spas, nail salons, and hairdressers, that force many businesses to close permanently.

CNN’s Parija Kavilanz contributed to this report.

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