Refitting your Barber Shop
Unless buying an established barber shop, the premises will need a refit before opening for business. The renovation has to provide a practical workplace with all the necessary facilities for staff and customers, allow the business to meet health and safety requirements and make the premises as accessible as possible to disabled people. All this has to be achieved without blowing the budget, so careful consideration has to be given to the design of the interior before calling in the shopfitters.
Think about how the premises can best serve the business and how to utilise the space to its full potential. The bare minimum a barber shop premises should provide is a kitchen area for staff, a toilet for customers and staff, a waiting area for customers, at least one basin to wash hair in and workstations for the staff to cut hair at – each with an adjustable chair, mirror and shelf.
Do not try to squeeze too many workstations into the salon at the expense of some of the other facilities. Remember the barber shop has to be welcoming and comfortable if it is to attract customers and keep them coming back. Cramped working conditions will not help when it comes to recruiting and retaining staff either.
Call in the Experts
Depending on the budget, it may be possible to call in shopfitting experts to do the whole job. This should allow the barber shop to be ready for opening day in rapid time, but can be costly. The alternative is to co-ordinate the refitting project and call on individual tradesmen – joiners, electricians, plumbers and decorators – as and when they are needed. This can be more cost effective, but delays are more likely.
Think about what the staff will need in order to provide the best possible service. Good lighting is vital in a barber shop and there has to be plenty of power points at workstations, so do not skimp on these essentials during the renovation. The flooring has to be easy to clean, so consider a heavy-duty linoleum. Floor tiles are a durable and attractive alternative, but it may cost a little extra for quality ceramic or quarry tiles.
The fittings can say a lot about the type of customers the barber shop wants to attract. Traditional fittings will suit an old fashioned barbers aiming to provide a clipper cut, beard trim or short back and sides, whereas a more trendy, fashionable salon should aim for a more contemporary look when refitting a shop.
Ask for Advice
If employing shopfitters, do not be afraid to draw on their experience and ask for advice. The layout of the premises is likely to be limited by certain factors. For instance, the toilet and staff kitchen have to be at the back of the shop, with the workstations and customer waiting area at the front. Also, the backwash units have to be plumbed in and this can dictate where they are situated.
Even if the shop does not have a reception desk, it will need somewhere to house a cash register. For security reasons, it is best to keep the till away from the shop entrance, so consider this when planning the shopfitting.
As the main aim of the barbers is provide a service rather than to sell goods, the shop window can be wasted space. Rather than put a bland display in the window, consider using the space to provide extra seating for waiting customers.
