The 'Only In NYC' Story Of Downtown Brooklyn's Newest Barber

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — Alex Nunez, owner of the new Neighborhood Cut and Shave on Bond Street, may have opened his first official barbershop in Manhattan in 2010, but running his own hair cutting business really began in a six-floor walk-up stairwell when he was 12 years old.

Back then, his dad had come home with a new pair of clippers one day and asked Nunez to try his hand at giving him a haircut. He took such a liking to it that soon his dad, his brothers and his cousins became regular customers, Nunez said.

"It all started from there," he said. "I kept on asking him to buy me more things — different clippers, and sprays, and combs and mirrors — so he spoke about it with my mother and the landlord and we set up a little barbershop on the top floor of the building."

Nunez practiced his skills on his family and friends until word, and evidence of his hair-cutting skills, quickly spread to the rest of the building. Soon, adult men were coming once or twice a week to get their regular cut.

The makeshift barbershop became a place not only to enjoy this new hobby he loved, Nunez said, but a small version of what he loved so much about going to barbershops in the first place — a hangout spot.

"I remember distinctly from my childhood going to the barbershop with my dad," he said. "What I really fell in love with, with cutting hair, was how much connection I made with all walks of life. Imagine a 14 year old kid having an hour long conversation with an adult — that isn't your parent or your teacher — about life itself."

Two decades later, it's that love of the community feel that Nunez has tried to replicate with each barbershop of his own.

After working at shops throughout high school and getting his certification at 18, Nunez now owns four barbershops across the city. He opened his first in the West Village in 2010, another in Prospect Heights a few years later and two this year, one across the street from his childhood apartment in the Lower East Side and the most recent at 33 Bond St.

Each location pays homage to his experience growing up, Nunez said, from the distinct menthol shaving smell, to the floors made of mosaic subway tiles like the ones in his stairwell barbershop.

(Neighborhood Cut and Shave).

And, now that he manages 25 employees instead of cutting each customer's hair himself, that neighborhood feel is all about hiring the right people.

Nunez and his business partner, Travis, said they have tried to bring in only the barbers who understand giving a great service while also building the relationship with the customer. Travis was one of Nunez' first customers at his West Village shop.

"Every time I sat in his chair I felt like the service he was giving me was the most important service," he said. "He has an amazing way of doing that with every customer and we're trying to hire guys that feel that same passion."

(Neighborhood Cut and Shave).

Neighborhood Cut and Shave's new Brooklyn location fills one of several retail spaces found on the first floor of 33 Bond St., a 25-story apartment rental building by TF Cornerstone that went up in 2017. It joins the coffee shop Devoción and specialty foods store Depanneur in the building's corner spot storefronts.

The fourth shop is also likely not the end for Nunez. He and Travis said there might be plans to open another location in Midtown as early as this year, though they are still finalizing their plans.

One thing is for certain, though, Nunez has come a long way since that first time he was handed a pair of clippers.

"It's a dream come true — I feel really fortunate I fell into something that I genuinely love," he said. "Looking back I see how exciting the journey has been and I see where we can continue going.