Our regular hair stylist was out of town, so I took my son to Winnie's on July 26th around 9:25am. First thing that I noticed was that there was a lot of people waiting inside. Not surprised. It was the Friday before the first day of school for Brentwood and Oakley students.
My son sign in. I noticed that despite the large number of people waiting for their hair to be done, my son was the only person who "signed in" on that day so far. I thought to myself, "no big deal as long as my son gets his turn after the person who came in before him."
We went outside to wait at first, because there weren't anymore seats to sit in. Later when two seats became available, we sat and waited inside the establishment.
While waiting I began to look around (from my seat) the business as well as people watch the two employees that were there and the clientele. During my observation I noticed a few of things about this establishment...
-They don't use their "sign in" sheet.
They were calling customers up randomly. As nice as it would have been to get my son's haircut over with, I didn't feel that it was okay for him to go before the other customers who were there before we were, so we did the right thing; we let the stylist know who was before us.
-They're seem to be a cash ONLY establishment.
Although they have signs randomly near the cash register stating something like "credit card machine is currently not working. We apologize for any inconvenience," and "an additional $1 fee will be automatically added to credit card transactions." Not exact word for word, but the meanings are the same. I noticed more than one customer needing to leave after their haircut to get cash to pay. Good thing they're honest folks.
-Regulars feel VERY comfortable here. :)
While waiting, I witnessed a woman come in, greeted the stylists, and then sat down with the rest of us to wait for her turn. After a few minutes, she got up and went to an actual empty styling station, sat down, opened her purse to get something out, and totally made herself at home. :)
-More like Chinatown than Beverly Hills.
If you're expecting a spotless floor, hip dressed employees who will offer you a drink while you wait for your turn, and be very chatty with you while they cut/style your hair, then go someplace else. These stylists are dressed nicely and will get the job done as long as customers are good communicators of what he or she want done. If you speak Cantonese, you're in...it's a plus to converse with them on a friendlier, more casual level. They work hard to get customers in and out of the styling chairs, so I didn't see them sweep up after EVERY person, but they did work quickly and precisely.
The bottom line is that my son got the haircut that he wanted, so I'm happy. That's why they're getting three stars. Will we return for services in the future? Who knows....maybe, maybe not, but at least I'll know what to expect. :) read more