After 17 years of being a hairdresser, Alison Lovell noticed something strange.
“There really wasn’t a place for men to go – someplace that wasn’t smelly with perms, where they could walk in, seven days a week, and get a great cut every time,” Lovell said.
In 1999, she and her husband Don decided to and fill that niche.
They opened The Barbers on the corner of Northeast 162nd Avenue and Northeast 18th Street in East Vancouver, complete with a spinning barber’s pole, stainless steel countertops and constant sports playing on a big-screen TV.
Today, less than 10 years later, The Barbers is a network of 12 shops – eight owned by the Lovells and four others owned in partnership with another party. Of the eight owned by the Lovells, seven are located in Clark County – from Battle Ground in the north to Hazel Dell and Salmon Creek in the west and Fisher’s Landing and Columbia Crossing in the east.
By the end of the year, Lovell hopes to make it a baker’s dozen, with a new shop planned for Grand Central. Grand Central is under construction off of Highway 14, just east of downtown Vancouver, and will be anchored by Fred Meyer.
To differentiate The Barbers from the “big box” hair shops, such as SuperCuts, it caters only to men – they don’t cut women’s hair – and is focused on “bringing back the old-time barbershop experience in an updated environment,” Lovell said.
The classic talc powder smell of barbershops gone by is part of the experience, and hairdressers use a little vacuum to clean up after each cut. Each customer gets a neck and shoulder massage.
“We try to combine walk-in volume cutting with a full-service feel,” said Lovell.
The Barbers also tries to create a kid-friendly atmosphere. Fathers and sons are greeted at the door, and are offered free popcorn and soda.
The community response has been terrific, with plenty of repeat business and referrals, Lovell said.
That can be measured by the phenomenal growth of The Barbers’ revenue – from $20,000 in 1999 to a projected $2.5 million this year.
Combined, the shops do an average of 20,000 haircuts per month (average cut price is $14.95) – which could make The Barbers the largest locally owned hair company in Clark County and possibly in the Vancouver-Portland metro area.
The Lovells also work to establish quality relationships with their employees, which number more than 60 in Clark County alone.
Lovell stressed the importance of paying hairdressers what they are worth, so they’re not inclined to just see how many haircuts per hour they can get out of them before they quit and move on.
“Our goal has always been to grow our employees as people,” she said. “Then the business end just happens.”
Lovell has never understood why other business owners in the industry, which has a high turnover rate, seem to take the opposite approach.
“They’re driven by numbers, and forget who’s on the front lines,” she said. “Three-quarters of our employees have been with us for more than three years. We have hardly any turnover.”
The Barbers aims to truly be a local, family-oriented enterprise.
Lovell designed the décor of the 1,100-square-foot shops herself, negotiates all of the real estate deals and serves as general contractor during the construction of each new shop.
Her father helped build all 12 shops and her mom takes care of the payroll and inventory while Don Lovell lends his experience in running multiple locations. Don, who used to play for the Cleveland Indians, is head baseball coach at Jesuit High School.
On top of her concerns about compensation of hairdressers, Lovell also is troubled that “big box chains” are driving up retail lease prices in Clark County.
“I’m very anti-big box,” Lovell said. “I always hire local and buy local, and I try to get my employees to do the same.”
If retail lease prices continue to climb in Clark County, “pretty soon, the mom-and-pop places will be driven out,” she added.
