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Big-screen, high-def TVs. Leather sofas. Art Deco chairs. And a full bar. Doesn't sound like the traditional barbershop I patronize in my neighborhood.
Yet, at least two fancy barbershops have opened in San Francisco recently. And I suspect there are more like them across the nation, given the whole manscaping trend. Plus, there's reality TV's growing interest in tonsorial entrepreneurs, with Bravo cable channel's new series Shear Genius joining hit sister show Blow Out.
MR, launched in San Francisco's financial district by two 28-year-old Stanford business school graduates, isn't your corner clip joint, the San Francisco Chronicle reports: "Instead of individual haircuts, it sells monthly memberships for men, like a health club. It's open until 10 p.m. for drinking and socializing by both men and women. The bar's glass countertop displays pricey men's accessories such as wallets and flasks for sale to patrons."
MR's founders are aiming for a national chain. They plan shops for Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago and Atlanta this year and next.
Then there's Barber Lounge, which the Chronicle describes thusly: "The barbering area features four cadet blue leather Art Deco barbershop chairs and an antique French red, white and blue twirling barber sign. Fen Leung, a veteran barber from Guangzhou, a city known for its sharp shavers, oversees the action -- from cleansing to a bracing dollop of after shave lotion that wakes up those who doze off under her ministrations.''
Makes me long to watch a trailer of Warren Beatty's hilarious 1975 move, Shampoo.
Source: USA TodayAll rights reserved.