Blue Collar Barbershop opens in Springfield with $16 haircuts and free snacks

In 2013, Jordan Sadberry was among the first barbers to work for Hudson Hawk at its original location in downtown Springfield.

In 2018, he's opened his own shop, Blue Collar Barbershop, at the intersection of Glenstone Avenue and Bennett Street.

"Glenstone and Bennett is just about the busiest intersection in Springfield," Sadberry said.

It's a densely packed part of east-central Springfield, with a nearby 10 Fitness, a U.S. Post Office, a Walmart Neighborhood Market, a Rapid Robert's and many other retail storefronts.

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To the west, the blocks turn residential: Blue Collar Barbershop is a couple of minutes down the street from the leafy, well-heeled neighborhood that includes the "Harry Potter" house.

"I like Pickwick," Sadberry said while giving a haircut Thursday afternoon. "I like Oak Grove. This area didn’t have so many (barber) shops. Just on the other side of Sunshine, there’s four shops. On this side, there’s one — this one."

In keeping with a neighborhood where it seems like almost everyone passes through, Sadberry wants to be the barber of the people. He gives traditional haircuts "like Grampa had" to anyone who wants one, men and women alike.

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Sadberry charges $16 for a haircut including a hot-lather neck shave; $4 to add a beard trim to a haircut, or $10 for just a beard trim. Straight-razor hot towel shaves are $30.

Bottled water and snacks are free. Customers are usually subject to multiple invitations to indulge in them, a News-Leader reporter observed Thursday.

At the moment, Sadberry is the only barber at Blue Collar. He expects to recruit a few more in the coming months.

His view of "blue collar" barbering extends to serving working people from all parts of society, he said, noting that medical doctors work with their hands, too.

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Sadberry became a barber after working as a mechanic for several years.

"I went to school for auto-industrial," he said. "I had some friends that cut hair. You look at their hands, you look at your own hands" — the barbers' hands were less beat-up than the hands of guys who worked on cars.

"You're making more money than me (cutting hair), I spend more money than you do on my tools and things."

Sadberry added that being a barber matches his highly social personality. "You don’t get to meet anyone, learn anything about anyone," lying on your back working on a car engine.

Thus, a career change was in order. Sadberry said that after several years as a barber for other people, he became ready to open his own shop, especially since the recent birth of his first child.

Many of the customers who've followed him to different barber shops in the past followed him once again to Blue Collar Barber, Sadberry said. One client, Niko Ngo, drives up from home in Forsyth to have Sadberry cut his hair.

"I don’t just go to get a haircut, I come to see Jordan," Ngo told the News-Leader while he waited for his turn on the chair.

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Customers wait at a long bench that looks like a repurposed church pew, next to the free-snack cabinet.

The space is largely painted bright blue, with freshly laid blue tiles and air conditioning that doesn't quit.

Along the walls, there's a mix of Frankenstein, Elvis Presley and other memorabilia. Lots of people think Sadberry is a huge Elvis fan, he said, and so they give him Elvis things as gifts sometimes. He said Elvis is all right, but he prefers Carl Perkins of "Blue Suede Shoes" fame.

Sadberry also said he aims to make his shop a community experience.

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"A haircut is probably only 30 percent of the deal," he said. "The rest of the business is talking, having fun. How was your birthday? How's your wife, kids, day care?"

Sadberry went on, "Anything you want to know — any information — leave Google at home. You come in here, we'll tell you all about it. Any advice. Life, love, cars, music, anything."

"I’m just trying to have a good time," he said as he held up a mirror for a client to approve the haircut he'd just been given. The man nodded and said, "Yep!"

"Gorgeous!" Sadberry told his client. "She’s gonna take you back, handsome young man."

Find Blue Collar Barbershop

The shop is tucked behind a Rapid Robert's gas station in a shopping strip at 1349 S. Glenstone Ave. Appointments not needed. The shop's phone number is 417-844-1826, and it is on Facebook. Search "Blue Collar Barbershop."

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