Barbers go mobile as shop prices bite
Hundreds of barbers across the UK could soon be cutting their overheads by closing their shops and switching to a mobile service.
The cost-of-living crisis, which has sent energy and other bills soaring coupled with a change in public habits following Covid 19 has led to the change.
Get Groomed Mobile Barbers is now recruiting dozens of barbers across the UK, having set up in the London area in 2017.
With 20 barbers joining them in the Greater Manchester area and 20 in the West Midlands the service is expanding nationwide with applications to join being received on a daily basis.
Giuliano Dore, founder of Get Groomed, said: “At the moment many of our barbers are keeping their shops open and supplementing their income with mobile services on some days.
“These are very worrying times for so many barber shop owners. After a period of being closed during Covid many have not seen their customers return in the same numbers. Add to that the costs of all overheads going up and many really good barbers now face tough choices.
“We are saying to them that they shouldn’t despair and we have a business that they can join and use their skills as a visiting service. If you look at almost any rank of shops in the UK there is a hairdresser or barber but we are seeing a significant change in the way people seek their services.
“We have found that since Covid many elderly or vulnerable people do not feel so comfortable about sitting in a crowded waiting room for their haircut and have turned to an at-home service.
“We also have a number of businesses looking for ways to attract their workers back into the office and they have started having events where we set up mobile barbershops in the workplace on specially arranged days.”
Get Groomed was founded by Giuliano and Sabrina Vjaykumar and the website immediately became popular across London offering haircuts, wet shaves and beard trims in homes, offices and hotel rooms across the capital with an army of barbers recruited to carry out the appointments.
Any barber, male or female, wanting to join the team must have at least one year’s experience and relevant qualifications.
Get Groomed works with professional barbers on a commission-based basis, so those who join the team can either be full time or work part-time. Some are supplementing their shop income with flexible working.
Applications can be made online at www.gogetgroomed.co.uk
