A FAMOUS Worcester Beauty Brand has been forced to reduce its workforce by half due to coronavirus struggles.

Sienna X, based in Sherriff Street, have made nine out of 19 members of staff redundant after a particularly harsh season for the beauty industry.

CEO of the beauty brand, Nicky Matthews said: "It has been desperately sad letting staff go, these are people we have worked with for years.

"Unfortunately the beauty industry as a whole has taken a real hit. Our busiest season is from March-July and as you know this is when the nation went into lockdown and the salons were shut.

"We had large stock builds to see us through this busy period at great cost but no sell through as the 2000 salons and 3000 mobile beauticians we supply had to cease trading. Retail sales were lower than expected too.

"We took a huge financial hit, as did the businesses and customers we supply. It is a heart-breaking situation to be in. The fear is that with more and more events being cancelled its going to be very challenging to make it through the next six months.

"Many consumers are having to be careful on what they spend their money on and some of taking care of their beauty needs at home. We are focusing on survival now, Digital and Ecommerce are a major priority”.

Mrs Matthews said although times are hard she is desperate to make something good out of a bad situation.

She said: "We want to encourage people to shop local, small, independent businesses have been really badly affected by this outbreak.

"We need to spend less with the corporates who have come out of this pandemic better than they came in and start supporting our local businesses and suppliers.

"Educational training is our core competency within Sienna X and we want to help people who have lost their job to this crisis or fancies a change of pace to log on to our courses and find out how they can start their own beauty business that will stand them in good stead for when times are better”.