GEORGIE BRINGS STYLE AND SERVICE TO BARBER SHOP
PERSONAL intimacy and building a connection with community is what new business owner Georgie West treasures most about being her own boss at a freshly minted Innisfail barber shop.
The new shop called Westy’s Barbers on Owen St has been a dream come true for the 25-year-old first-time business owner and offers a traditional barber’s service.
Ms West trained at Jan Lyons For Hair Design in Cairns before taking an opportunity in 2016 to learn traditional barbering in New Zealand.
Heading back to Cairns she worked at Toddies: The Barbers Wife and after a stint in Canberra she decided to branch out on her own.
“I lost my child in August and was stuck in lockdown, opening my own business was never really an option I had considered,” she said.
But difficulty in finding work and a barber shortage in Innisfail made Ms West reconsider.
“There is a definite need for barbers in this town and I thought ‘you know what, I will give it a go’,” she said.
Open for a week now, the new business owner has been doing a roaring trade trimming beards and cutting hair.
“I have met so many different kinds of people and had lot of people from Mission Beach, mining and construction workers and mums from Innisfail,” she said.
“The client that sits in my chair I get to know them as a person, it’s personalised to each person that comes in.”
A grand opening planned for May 28 will offer $20 haircut deals and fundraise for the Brandon Roos Memorial Team.