Scorecard · Atlanta, GA
Three-chair barbershop
53/100
How much does it cost to open a barbershop in Atlanta? $45,000–$88,000 in Atlanta, GA, on the figures below.
- Profit
- B
- Atlanta cuts run $28–$45. A busy chair does 9 cuts a day, six days a week. Chair rent at $250–$400 a week per barber is revenue that arrives whether the chair is busy or not.
- Difficulty
- C
- Georgia requires a master barber licence to cut and a shop licence for the premises, with State Board inspection of sinks, sterilisation and spacing. Eight to sixteen weeks.
- Capital
- D$45,000–$88,000
- Chairs, mirrors and stations are $12,000–$24,000, plumbing for shampoo bowls $8,000–$20,000, fit-out and signage $15,000–$30,000, plus a $9,000 deposit.
Break-even
- The number that has to be true
- 3 chairs rented at $300 a week, plus 40 of your own cuts a week
- Fixed costs a month
- $9,200
- The assumption
- Three licensed barbers who bring their own clients on day one.
Opening for less
All three together take $71,000 off: $88,000 becomes $17,000.
Open with two chairs in a space that already has bowls plumbed
−$22,000
Costs you: One less rent cheque and a ceiling on the busiest Saturday
Rent a chair in an existing shop for a year and build the book first
−$40,000
Costs you: Your name stays on someone else's door
Buy stations and chairs from a closing Atlanta shop
−$9,000
Costs you: Mismatched stations, and hydraulics you may replace within two years
How you’d do it
What you need
- A Georgia master barber licence and a State Board shop licence
- Three barbers with their own following, not three barbers looking for one
- Plumbing for two shampoo bowls, or a space that already has them
- $9,200 a month covered while the chairs fill
First 3 moves
- 1Talk to five Atlanta barbers about chair rent and what would make them move.
- 2Walk your target block on a Saturday and count how many shops are already full.
- 3Price the same 900 sq ft with and without existing plumbing.
The hardest part
Filling chairs with barbers who bring clients. An empty chair still costs rent.
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