Photo by Howard Owens.
What do three lifelong friends who enjoy cutting hair do when the opportunity arises -- they open a barbershop together, of course.
The Local Barbershop is located at 466 Ellicott St., Batavia. It was previously Canzoneri's Barbershop. The former owner Joe Canzoneri left to pursue a business opportunity in Buffalo.
The new owners are Alton Rupp, Tommy Slenker, and Damian Hargrave.
"We all went to Alexander High School, so we wanted to collectively own something one day," Rupp said. "It's just a matter of when the opportunity came up, we jumped on it, and it's been a good time, man. It's been a lot of fun."
All three emphasized that they like the idea of community, that they're doing something for the community, and they're offering a community. Their open casual floor plan with couches and chairs in the middle and a beer cooler on one wall is inviting.
"We want to bring back that home-like atmosphere," Rupp said. "Come in, hang out, have some fun. More than anything— and I'm not saying the other ones don't have that— I think what we have going here in the middle, a centralized location, is that clients come in, hang out, and chat with each other. We've had a lot of clients intermingle already, so it's been awesome."
Slenker also thinks the location is conducive to getting attention and building community.
"The space itself -- we got plenty of eyes on us, with (Route) 63 being right here in the outskirts of Batavia, so we're not right in the thick of things, but we like having plenty of parking, and the building's definitely identifiable," Slenker said.
Hargrave said that comes with being one of the owners, where the business can reflect who they are. Otherwise, it's business as usual.
"Honestly, it feels like same old, same old, you know, you're kind of just cutting hair," Hargrave said. "It's been nice to get a lot of love and feedback from the community. What I like most is just being able to make it what we want, just making it how it is, and controlling the dynamic, you know, whether the TV's on, the music's going, everything that people see, just making it a better experience and being in control of that compared to when you're just a barber in another shop, you might not have a say in that kind of stuff."
The Local Barbershop can be reached at 585-483-3060.
