This Barber is Still Standing

YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO—Deciding to become a business owner is one thing. Creating a plan is something else. Having all your licenses in order is yet another step. Being able to withstand unexpected storms, such as a pandemic, is a whole other ball of wax.
Youngstown, Ohio businessman Ryan Gilchrist, owner of Ryan’s Chair, a Unisex Barbershop/Beauty Salon, has been serving the people of Youngstown and surrounding areas for 30 years. In over three decades of being a barber and barbershop owner, Ryan Gilchrist says he’s never lived through anything like the Coronavirus pandemic. “My business slowed down over the last 15-months. The age groups of my customers that come here for cuts are different. You have those that have believed the virus was real from the very beginning. Then you have those that always challenged me and my staff when we demanded they wear face masks while in my shop. I also had customers who stopped coming to the shop completely for over a year for fear they might get COVID. They only wanted one-on-one service. Generally, they were my elderly clients. This pandemic has forced me as a businessman to learn how to pivot what I have going on.”
Gilchrist continued, “Business has slowed down. However, with the slow-down, for me, creativity set in. For example, I’m in the final stages of outfitting an RV Trailer into a traveling version of “Ryan’s Chair.” When clients request this service, one of my licensed barbers or cosmetologists will come to their home and do their hair inside the RV. They can do their hair outside on a good weather day, next to the RV, or inside the customer’s home if the client is more comfortable with that. When available, the RV can be rented to other licensed hairstylists.“
Ryan’s Chair has been a mainstay in Youngstown for a long time now. Ryan Gilchrist thought back on it and shared that if he counts all the years he has been cutting hair, he started in his parents’ basement in 1995, and determined then, he wanted to become a barber.
“One thing I know for sure, whether my shop has twenty people waiting to get their hair done or two people waiting, the bills keep coming. I have a staff of thirteen people. They look to me to be the leader as the owner of the shop. When we went through the first shut down, one of my staff members decided they did not want to return to work when we learned we could reopen because they felt their clientele would be slow to return. They serviced older people. Then we had a second shut down during the height of the pandemic, and I lost another employee, who decided just not to come back to work. I can honestly say, all of it has not been bad. I look at the situation like this God has a way of removing and doing things you would not do yourself. The pandemic slowed all of us down. It has caused us to spend more time with our family and put things in perspective.”
Gilchrist said before the pandemic, his shop would be open until 9 or 10 pm, six nights a week. Now, he and his staff are all done work by 6 pm, because they don’t have the same volume of customers.
Some small business owners have had to learn the hard way, but for Gilchrist, being legit has paid off. Gilchrist is one of those business owners who does have his act together. He has all his licenses in order and up to date. So when it came time to apply for emergency assistance as a small business owner he did qualify and eventually help arrived. He continued, “For a good while, we were just sitting at home, not earning an income, not collecting any kind of assistance, not getting anything, but then we got Payroll Protection. The PPP kicked in right before the government gave us the nod that we could reopen our businesses. I also eventually received a small SBA loan, and that helped out to kind of float some money to get us back on our feet with Ryan’s Chair.”
Gilchrist says, he doesn’t know if he would have made it through the last 15 months unscathed were it not for the fact that he had paid off the building that houses Ryan’s Chair years ago. “I don’t have a mortgage or a rent to pay. I still have taxes and utilities to pay, but when I hear some other business owners I know, who are not in the same position as me and have rent to pay or a mortgage for the building where their business is, it has almost crushed them. God put some things in order for me before the pandemic, and I am just so grateful for that.
In closing, I would say people in Youngstown, be on the lookout for “Ryan’s Chair RV Trailer” riding through your neighborhood, offering barbering and cosmetology services. Gilchrist stated, “even once the pandemic is over, the traveling hair service is something I will continue because I know it’s needed.” You can reach Ryan’s Chair at 1-330-782-7599. They are open Tuesdays through Saturdays and Mondays by appointment only.