Barbers in the West Midlands and Birmingham, who may be considering closing their shops because of the cost-of-living crisis, have been thrown a lifeline by a mobile male grooming business.
Get Groomed Mobile Barbers is looking to recruit between 15 and 20 barbers in the Birmingham area at a time when soaring energy bills and other costs are making it increasingly difficult to keep shop premises going.
Instead of waiting for customers to arrive at a shop the mobile barbers go into workplaces and homes with customers booking their appointments online. Get Groomed, founded in 2017 in London, has expanded into the West Midlands and is recruiting to cope with demand.
Giuliano Dore, who founded the business, said: “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.
“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 us for 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.”
As an introductory offer in Birmingham a limited number of customers registering on the website are being given free haircuts.
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.
Get Groomed Mobile Barbers is now growing in the West Midlands. 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.
