Off-Road: The story of The Barber Van

Step inside, sit in the chair, get your hair clipped, pay, head out looking fresh. A visit to this barber is just like any other, with one key difference: it’s on wheels.

After shuttering her commercial barbershop in 2011, Ep Weatherhead decided to try something a little different. A barber for over 20 years, she’s a pro at her craft and was keen to offer her services without the physical limitations that come with a brick-and-mortar business. That’s how The Barber Van – a mobile barbershop servicing Sydney’s eastern suburbs and northern beaches – was born.

“I love the fact that it’s a mobile business,” Ep told us. “When you’ve got a commercial business, things like foot traffic and parking are very important factors. If something happens to the foot traffic now, I’m not stuck in the same place. It’s much easier for me to move and go somewhere else without losing money.”

At the beginning, getting people on board with her vision was tricky. While we’re familiar with plenty of businesses on wheels these days, Ep says there wasn’t much happening in the scene back in 2011 beyond coffee vans. When she set about trying to fit out her van, people weren’t ready to play ball. “The Barber Van is the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, and originally people were a bit taken aback,” she says. “They didn’t want to do the work for me because it was a new thing; people want a structure and a plan – they don’t want to do trial and error.” Eventually, she found the right crew to fit out her van with all the essentials – including an eye-catching 1940s barber’s chair – and has been on a roll ever since.

Customers either consult the schedule on her website or dial her hotline (1300 424 728) to find out where she’s parked, and her mobility and familiarity has earned her a loyal customer base in the past six years. “My male customers range from kids to those in their senior years. There’s one family with four generations who come in.” Ep also works events like weddings, and has ongoing appointments with the Australian military – she regularly visits bases in Sydney and Canberra to trim for the troops.

“Because I’m contracted to the military, people think I just do buzzcuts, but it’s a lot more than that,” Ep explains when we ask about the reactions from people who hear about her business. “People are very encouraging, and the business makes sense when they hear about it. It’s creative and well thought out.”

New acquaintances also, inevitably, mention that they have friends or family who are eager to take up a mobile business, something Ep is very supportive of. “I want to set up the procedure for other barbers to get into business together,” she says, hoping like-minded entrepreneurs can avoid some of the hurdles that got in her way early on. So other barbers don’t have to re-invent the wheel, Ep is keen for them to contact her for help starting their own mobile businesses. Let’s hope we see a fleet of vans rolling out to clip, cut and shave guys all over the country soon.

Visit The Barber Van on Facebook and at their website.