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For more info: See the barbershop's Facebook page, online at www.facebook.com/headquartersbarbershopdayton.
Shawn Daniel and Brandon McClure have been friends since middle school, but after graduating from Dunbar High School in 2001, the pair went different directions. A recent business venture, however, brought them back together. The partnership and friendship has led to great success in the form of a chain of barbershops that features traditional mixed with modern services.
“I’ve been a barber since I graduated from college in 2002,” McClure said. “I always dreamed of owning my own barbershop.”
McClure came up with a unique idea of opening a shop in a mall, and, though most people he knew said they liked the idea, only his friend and business entrepreneur, Daniel, believed it would be a success.
“Brandon knew I had some entrepreneurial experience, and I had a started a couple of businesses, including a consulting company and a music company, so he thought I could help,” Daniel said.
McClure and Daniel decided to find a space in the Dayton Mall to open their first Headquarters Barbershop, which would offer traditional barber services while catering to busy mall traffic.
“We officially started our business in May of 2013,” Daniel said. “But we didn’t open the doors until the following year in June. We had no idea that it would grow so fast.”
The shop in the Dayton Mall was almost an instant hit and within six months had a full staff of 10 barbers. McClure said that this is the first barbershop in Ohio to be located in a mall.
“Headquarters is a full-service shop,” Daniel said. “We offer more of that ‘neighborhood’ experience in a central and convenient environment.”
Daniel said that full service means they don’t offer 10-minute “in and out” cuts. “You sit down and have a full experience with us,” he said. “It’s like what you got when you were growing up going to a barber.”
As the shop has grown and the word has spread about the unique concept, customers are traveling from all over the Miami Valley and even from as far away as Cincinnati to experience it. “I think that the novelty is that no one has seen a traditional barbershop in a mall before, and that is what brings them in at first,” Daniel said. “We have a sports bar atmosphere with wood floors and TVs everywhere. Men stop in while they are at the mall with their wives and once they try it, they love it and come back.”
In fact, business has been booming, and the pair plans to open their second Headquarters full-service barbershop at the Mall at Fairfield Commons, in Beavercreek, sometime in August.
“We want to continue to grow and be the best we can be,” Daniel said. “Our dream is to get a line of barbershops going and we’ve learned it’s possible if we keep doing what we’re doing. We can change the face of barbering in our area and bring more respect back to the profession.”
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