High Point Barbershop’s location at 1705 Altamont Ave. The owners plan to open a shop at 11000 Three Chopt Road in Henrico County. (BizSense file)
Delayed but undeterred by the pandemic, a local barbershop chain is readying its third location.
High Point Barbershop expects to open by summer’s end at 11000 Three Chopt Road in Henrico County. It’ll be its first location outside the city limits.
Owners David Foster, Darren Brown, Brian Mahaffy, Elliot Kinney and Jacky Flav secured the space in January 2020, but were forced to shelve the expansion for a year because of the pandemic.
Now they’re putting in the work to get it up and running.
“(If we don’t open) early fall, then that would be a disappointment,” Mahaffy said.
They lease the 1,400-square-foot space from Chas Davidson, who bought the seven-storefront strip center in the 1980s. The High Point owners worked with John Simmons of JLL Richmond to get the space.
From left, High Point Barbershop co-owners Brian Mahaffy, Darren Brown and David Foster at what will be their third location. (Noah Daboul photo)
Foster said that the contracting work is currently being done by RIC Design Build, which also did the work on High Point’s Scott’s Addition location at 1705 Altamont Ave. Campfire & Co. is handling the interior design work, as it did for the other two High Point shops. Its other location is in the Fan at 112 N. Meadow St.
The new Short Pump shop will feature vintage barber chairs that Foster tracked down on Facebook Marketplace in North Carolina.
“In trying to work through our budget and dealing with the smack in the face that was 2020, we’re trying to find ways we can save on this shop,” Foster said. “I came across a listing for a used Belmont chair in Raleigh. It was out of a barber school, it had the plastic on it still; probably from the ’70s.”
Foster said they’ll look to hire a handful of new staff members for the new shop. High Point’s first employee, Jared Galloway, will be moving up as a partner at the new location.
They said their current staff has about 25 people, and they will be looking to boost it to about 32 with the new location.
High Point Barbershop will soon occupy this space in the Three Chopt Center outside Richmond.
In addition to the new third location, Foster said High Point is working on launching its own retail brand.
“It’s called High Point Originals. Our goal is to create every product that we use in the shop for people to take home and use and purchase outside of Richmond,” Foster said. “That’s been an active project.”
Foster said that a fourth location also is on their minds.
“We’re definitely looking toward the future,” he said. “Once this one gets open we’ll be looking toward a fourth shop, but we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves.”
That optimism is fueled by the fact that the barber business has been returning back to normal in the past few months, the owners said.
“We just brought back beard trimming, which has been a cornerstone of our business since the beginning,” Foster said. “Our shops are busy right now. Each one is booked up for at least four days, and we have 14 chairs between the two shops currently. We’re very fortunate to be in the position we are now.”
High Point Barbershop’s location at 1705 Altamont Ave. The owners plan to open a shop at 11000 Three Chopt Road in Henrico County. (BizSense file)
Delayed but undeterred by the pandemic, a local barbershop chain is readying its third location.
High Point Barbershop expects to open by summer’s end at 11000 Three Chopt Road in Henrico County. It’ll be its first location outside the city limits.
Owners David Foster, Darren Brown, Brian Mahaffy, Elliot Kinney and Jacky Flav secured the space in January 2020, but were forced to shelve the expansion for a year because of the pandemic.
Now they’re putting in the work to get it up and running.
“(If we don’t open) early fall, then that would be a disappointment,” Mahaffy said.
They lease the 1,400-square-foot space from Chas Davidson, who bought the seven-storefront strip center in the 1980s. The High Point owners worked with John Simmons of JLL Richmond to get the space.
From left, High Point Barbershop co-owners Brian Mahaffy, Darren Brown and David Foster at what will be their third location. (Noah Daboul photo)
Foster said that the contracting work is currently being done by RIC Design Build, which also did the work on High Point’s Scott’s Addition location at 1705 Altamont Ave. Campfire & Co. is handling the interior design work, as it did for the other two High Point shops. Its other location is in the Fan at 112 N. Meadow St.
The new Short Pump shop will feature vintage barber chairs that Foster tracked down on Facebook Marketplace in North Carolina.
“In trying to work through our budget and dealing with the smack in the face that was 2020, we’re trying to find ways we can save on this shop,” Foster said. “I came across a listing for a used Belmont chair in Raleigh. It was out of a barber school, it had the plastic on it still; probably from the ’70s.”
Foster said they’ll look to hire a handful of new staff members for the new shop. High Point’s first employee, Jared Galloway, will be moving up as a partner at the new location.
They said their current staff has about 25 people, and they will be looking to boost it to about 32 with the new location.
High Point Barbershop will soon occupy this space in the Three Chopt Center outside Richmond.
In addition to the new third location, Foster said High Point is working on launching its own retail brand.
“It’s called High Point Originals. Our goal is to create every product that we use in the shop for people to take home and use and purchase outside of Richmond,” Foster said. “That’s been an active project.”
Foster said that a fourth location also is on their minds.
“We’re definitely looking toward the future,” he said. “Once this one gets open we’ll be looking toward a fourth shop, but we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves.”
That optimism is fueled by the fact that the barber business has been returning back to normal in the past few months, the owners said.
“We just brought back beard trimming, which has been a cornerstone of our business since the beginning,” Foster said. “Our shops are busy right now. Each one is booked up for at least four days, and we have 14 chairs between the two shops currently. We’re very fortunate to be in the position we are now.”
Congrats guys!
I remember fondly Brian and Elliot as two recent Radford grads living on Hanover Avenue across from my house, mulling ideas about how to start a business for themselves. They were engaging young guys and great neighbors. I’m very happy for their success.
Congrats Jared!