Barber starts small, then dreams big
A Christchurch barber with two luxury men’s hairdressing shops cut his teeth in the industry working out of a shed in his garden.
Frankie and Son Barbershop owner Stu Tafua’s latest enterprise will open in The Muse art hotel on June 20, his second highend shop. His flagship outlet opened in the central city weeks before New Zealand moved into alert level 4.
After learning the ropes cutting hair in a shed at home, Tafua secured a job managing Barkers Groom Room, a small barbershop inside the men’s clothing store chain, Tafua’s fiance Tori Wiki said.
He decided to go out on his own and squeezed his shop into a tiny 4 metre by 2m portable building on Manchester St in November 2018, officially launching the Frankie and Son Barbershop brand.
With two barber’s chairs and initially only a handful of clients, building his clientele from scratch was rough, Wiki said.
Despite having no running water and limited space in the tiny shop, Frankie and Son Barbershop slowly gathered a loyal following of repeat customers.
‘‘Now we can treat them to a real luxury experience,’’ she said.
Wiki said when Tafua first leased the space in the Muse hotel, opposite the first tiny shop, the idea was for it to house six barbers.
As the project developed, his space was cut by half, prompting the idea to open a second smaller shop on the other side of the city to plug the gap, she said.
Frankie and Son Barbershop’s first proper outlet opened with four chairs at Riverside Lane in February. The boutique 40-room Muse art hotel, which houses their second shop, opened on Monday.
Wiki said the barbershop would be ready for customers in 10 days, with two barbers to work from the new Manchester St location and four remaining at Riverside.
Tafua wanted his shops to be a cut above. His focus would be on creating a luxury, relaxing experience, offering a fusion of oldschool traditional hot shaves and beard shapes with modern skin fades and buzz cuts.
‘‘The short back and sides was the most common. It’s good to see guys starting to take care of themselves . . . Christchurch being so small, we know [all the other barbers] around here. There’s enough heads for everyone to cut,’’ he said.
‘‘The vibe is really to bridge the gap between the barbershop and the hair salon and cater to high-end clients, like businessmen, who want to come in and really enjoy the experience,’’ Wiki said.
‘‘What makes us different is the fit-out, and just making everyone feel good,’’ Tafua said.
Tafua said Wiki was the ‘‘backbone’’ of the business and made everything ‘‘work’’.
Wiki said opening the first store had been ‘‘really scary’’, but its success had made the gamble worthwhile. ‘‘We had our third baby on the way, and he was leaving a secure job and going into the unknown, but he’s had so much support.’’
The shop’s name was inspired by their boys, Frankie and Sonny. Their daughter, Ziggy, is now one.
Wiki said barbering was a competitive field in the city, with a ‘‘friendly rivalry’’ between the stores keeping them on their toes.