RDD Mag | February 2022
Trend - Speakeasies Bounce Back
Blind Barber’s unique business model combines working barbershops with hidden cocktail lounges. Blind Barber first set up shop in New York’s East Village in 2010, with two barber chairs and a secret bar tucked away in back. Today the company boasts six locations: two in New York, two in Los Angeles, one in Chicago and the newest shop recently opened in Philadelphia.
Uninitiated customers looking for a bar may be puzzled when they first walk into a Blind Barber. “The biggest piece of the speakeasy puzzle is to do your very best to make that first entrance as undetectable as possible,” says Jeffrey Laub, chief creative and marketing officer. “So, we make sure that each barber shop has a very plain white door (that looks like it goes to a closet) as our entrance.”
