Above average barber skillset and used to be a pretty enjoyable experience and at a fair deal however they have gone from $19 to $22 to $30 in under 16 months and with the Covid shorting of hours they actually don't even open up so times, so call before coming down. They used to be a strong 4 star experience in terms of what you get, the time they spent on extra things vs value but clearly this Covid pandemic has effected all of us, however I wish I could simply do less work and service, care less work less and charge more in my profession, due to the pandemic, but clearly it would be wrong.
I had to wait for a few people and noticed as we all have how society has been forced to focus less on grooming because if the pandemic and many shops in all industries have suffered which can make stable revenue difficult. The answer isn't to lower your service level & charge more, it should be to keep the old excellent business model they had. Why not incentive your clients especially your long-time regulars to return back to their monthly hair cut schedule and to get your volumes back as close to original volumes as possible. Why not keep a list of your regulars and touch base with them in 4 to 6 weeks to try and pre-book a few of them or offer a punch-card program where every 10th cut is half price? If you have their contact info than you have an actual intangible asset refered to as a client list. This can allow for strategic target marketing. You can call regulars to pre-book them and offer referral programs where every referral that is sent in and gets a cut, adds to their punch-card points and eventually leads to a half price hair cut for them and possibly the person who is refereed gets a discounted first cut. With people getting points each gut to a discounted cut or product plus with extra points for referrals that lead to long-term clients the business model will grow itself in no time.
I think pre-pandemic the services and overall value were so strong they never had to focus on client retention and sales but now in the pandemic, while all of us are much poorer, it's not the time to lower our hours, services and standards while drastically raising our prices. Legally most companies can't do this and the ones that do should be ashamed. This fine place is by no means one of those types of businesses but it's a slippery slope when you contously decide to lower your hours and output knowing that you will get fewer clients this way so you will than need to charge them much more money to allow for the kids of client volumes, especially in a global pandemic a 6 year recession that is bordering on a full economic depression.
I am pretty sure the owner/stylist is just going through a very tough Covid period like all of us, and in a few months his hours, price, attitude and service will all be 4 stars once again very soon and even now in a pandemic is still a very good option. read more