Latest / Small Business Success with Fexingo: Local Companies, Main Street Stories, and Community Commerce / How a Local Barber Built a Membership That Stuck
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this barbershop in Columbus, Ohio, called The Grooming Room. It's a three-chair shop on a side street, not even on the main drag. And they've got a waitlist of over two hundred people to become members. Luna: A waitlist for a barbershop membership? That's not something you hear every day. Lucas: Right. And it's not a fancy new concept either. The owner, Marcus Webb, started it in 2019, before the pandemic, when the idea of a recurring revenue stream was mostly a gym or software thing. He just thought, why not a haircut? Luna: So what's the deal? You pay monthly, get a haircut every month? Lucas: Exactly. Forty-nine dollars a month covers one cut, a hot towel shave, and a drink of your choice. But here's the twist: if you skip a month, you don't lose the credit. It rolls over, and you can bank up to three cuts. That little flexibility is what he says made the difference. Luna: That's smart. It takes the pressure off, so people don't feel like they're wasting money if they get busy. Lucas: And it works. He's got about three hundred members, and he told me that membership revenue covers his rent, utilities, and two of his three barbers' salaries before a single walk-in comes through the door. Luna: Three hundred members at forty-nine bucks a month is roughly fourteen thousand, seven hundred dollars a month. That's a solid base. Lucas: Yeah, and it's stable. He's had a ninety-four percent renewal rate year-over-year since 2021. That's not a fluke. He's built a community around the shop. Luna: What's the typical member like? Is it the same guy every month? Lucas: Mostly, but he's got a mix. Some guys come in every two weeks, some every six weeks. The model works because it's about the ritual, not the exact frequency. Marcus told me he thinks of it like a gym membership for grooming. You're not paying for the cut, you're paying for the habit. Luna: That's a great lens. How did he get people to commit in the beginning? I imagine that's the hard part. Lucas: He started by offering a founding member discount—thirty-nine dollars a month for the first fifty people. That got him to his break-even point in about three months. But he made a mistake early on: he offered three different tiers. One with just a cut, one with a cut and shave, and one with everything. It was a nightmare to manage. Luna: Choice overload, right? You think more options mean more sales, but it just confuses people. Lucas: Exactly. He scrapped that and went to one simple tier. He says the decision took him from a hundred and forty members to over two hundred in six months, just because it was easier to explain and easier to sell. Luna: So he simplified, and that unlocked growth. What about the barbers? Do they like the membership model, or do they feel like they're losing out on tips? Lucas: That's a good question. He pays his barbers a base salary plus a commission on each cut, regardless of whether it's a member or a walk-in. And he's found that members are actually more generous with tips because they're not thinking about the cost of the service at the moment. Luna: So the barbers are on board. But what about the walk-ins? How does he balance the two? Lucas: He keeps a certain number of appointment slots open for non-members every day, usually the early morning and late afternoon slots. He's found that walk-ins fill the gaps and introduce new people to the shop. A lot of them end up converting to members after a few visits. Luna: So it's a funnel. The walk-ins are the top of the funnel, and the members are the bottom. Lucas: Right. And he's got a system for that. After your second visit, he'll casually mention, 'You know, we've got this membership thing if you're interested.' No hard sell. He says the conversion rate is about thirty percent from walk-in to member within two months. Luna: That's a solid conversion rate. I wonder if this model could work for other service businesses—like salons, or even something like a nail studio. Lucas: I think so, but it depends on the service. You need a repeatable, high-frequency service where customers already have a habit. Haircuts are perfect. Manicures maybe, but it's less regular. One thing Marcus emphasized is that you have to be willing to give up a little per-visit revenue for the stability. Luna: He's essentially trading a little bit of margin for predictability. That's a classic subscription play. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not just about the money. He says the membership has changed the vibe of the shop. Because he knows his members' preferences, he can prep their chair, have their drink ready, even remember their family news. It's the kind of personalized service you can't get at a chain. Luna: That's the loyalty driver. It's not the discount, it's the feeling of being known. Lucas: And that's why the waitlist exists. He capped membership at three hundred because he didn't want to overload the barbers. He's got a list of two hundred people waiting, and he says he's in no rush to expand. He'd rather keep the quality high and the experience personal. Luna: That's a good problem to have. But I'm curious, what's the downside? What if the economy takes a hit and people start canceling? Lucas: He's thought about that. He's got a contingency plan: if membership drops, he can offer a short-term pause, like a gym membership freeze. He's also built up a waitlist, so he can backfill quickly if people do leave. And he's got a six-month emergency fund just from the membership revenue alone. Luna: So he's resilient. And that's the thing about a subscription model—even in a downturn, people might cut back on extras, but they'll still want to look presentable for work. Lucas: Right. And he's seen that in the data. During the early pandemic, he paused the membership billing for two months, but he kept everyone on the waitlist. When he reopened, ninety percent of his members came back within a month. That's loyalty. Luna: That's a powerful stat. So what's the one thing you'd want a small business owner to take away from this story? Lucas: I think it's the idea that you can build a recurring revenue model around something as simple as a haircut if you focus on the relationship, not the transaction. And you don't need a fancy app or a slick marketing campaign. Marcus just used a simple spreadsheet and a handshake. Luna: Speaking of handshakes and simple tools, it reminds me of how this show stays afloat. You know, it's ad-free, and that's because some listeners chip in a few bucks a month. It's sort of like the membership model we're talking about—you're not paying for a single episode, you're supporting the whole habit. Lucas: That's a perfect parallel. We've got a small group of listeners who support the show through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's not a big ask, but it literally covers the hosting and editing costs, and it's why we can keep making these kinds of deep dives. Luna: And we're grateful for every one of them. But back to the barbershop—there's something else Marcus does that I think is underrated. He hosts a free community event once a month, like a BBQ or a game night, and it's open to everyone, not just members. Lucas: That's a great way to build the community. It makes the shop a hub, not just a place to get a haircut. And it's probably why his members feel such a strong connection. They're not just customers; they're part of a group. Luna: So when you look at the whole picture—the membership, the events, the personal touches—it's not really about the haircut at all. It's about belonging. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a lesson that goes beyond barbershops. Any small business can create that sense of belonging, whether it's a bakery or a bookstore. The key is to find your version of the membership—something that gives people a reason to come back beyond the product. Luna: And to keep it simple. One tier, one promise, and a lot of care. Lucas: Marcus Webb would agree. He told me that the moment he stopped trying to be everything to everyone and just focused on being the best at one thing, the business started to thrive. And that waitlist? It's not a marketing stunt. It's a promise to his existing members that the experience won't get diluted. Luna: It's a good reminder that sometimes the best growth strategy is saying no to more.