- May 13, 2024
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A Palm Coast barbershop has come up with a new way of handling reservations: through Twitter.
“About 40% of our business comes through Twitter now,” said Unbelievable Barber Shop manager and barber Jose Rivera, 35, who came up with the Twitter reservation idea. “The crazy thing is we’ve got people from all over the world commenting. I post pictures of haircuts, and they comment.”
The company’s handle: @BestBarbersInPC.
Unbelievable Barber Shop has been in Palm Coast since 2004, Rivera said. It moved to its current location, at 55 Plaza Drive, Unit 8D, from Pine Cone Drive in June.
“It’s a totally different change of environment,” Rivera said. “We were secluded over there on Pine Cone Drive. Now we get people that walk in just because they see us.”
The Twitter reservation system, owner Mark Saleem said, works well for the barbershop because so many of its customers are young.
Passing it on
When Saleem designed the shop, he incorporated elements customers said they’d like: a comfortable waiting area; flat-screen televisions; a warm, friendly atmosphere. “I asked people what they’d like to see in a shop, and I put it all together,” he said.
Saleem, a New York native, learned the trade from older barbers on Long Island. When he moved to Palm Coast, Saleem said, there weren’t many barbers doing New York-style cuts. He came, in part, to change that.
“It’s a thing that’s being lost with time,” he said. “I had my aunt and uncle down here in 1997, and they said, ‘You need to come down here and start a barbershop. Because we see what these guys are doing down here, and it’s not a haircut.’”
Saleem spoke as he trimmed the moustache and beard of customer Elton Phillip, 37 and a resident of Jacksonville.
“Before him, I flew to New York for a haircut,” Phillip said. Phillip has family in New York and makes regular trips there.
Saleem would like to pass on his technique to a new generation of local barbers. He has taught about 10 younger men the trade, he said, and all are now working as barbers.
Life lessons
But Saleem also tries to pass on something more.
The barbers who taught Saleem, he said, were in their 70s and 80s, and they taught him respect for the profession and for others. Saleem sees the barbershop as an environment where young men can speak with older ones who have a stable, successful life.
“I’m helping these little guys see something different,” he said. Being a good influence, he said, can be as simple as teaching youngsters to great their elders with a “good morning” or “good evening” instead of a casual nod.
And a chat with Saleem or other barbers at the shop comes with an understood trust, he said. “It’s almost like when you see a shrink. Everything is confidential,” he said, laughing.
Saleem has four other barbers working at his shop now, he said, but he’d like to train more and open up more Unbelievable Barber Shops in Flagler County. Call 445-7370.
