Master barber Andy Feudi is offering services he hopes are a cut above.
Feudi, 34, launched Zip’s Chop Shop, a garage-themed barbershop “trimmed in tradition, revved with style,” according to its social media, at 155 Main St., Suite A in Oneonta in April.
The path to a brick-and-mortar barbershop, Feudi said, was long.
“I’m from Long Island, but I moved here in 2006,” he said. “I had my son when I was 16, and now he’s 18 and graduating Oneonta High School and, actually, he’s apprenticing with me. I wanted to get out of (Long Island) because I had a lot going on at the time. I had done a million different jobs up until this but, before I left Long Island, my neighbor was a master barber and, every day, he would come home and want to touch up his little brother or my little brother and practice his skills. At the time, I had a ridiculous curly Italian afro and I was not willing to let him touch my hair … so I just watched, and I got the gist of it. When we moved upstate, my son was 3, and I cut his hair even before I was a barber. It got to the point where my brother and his friends were asking for haircuts and I finally said, ‘fine.’”
Before beginning an apprenticeship, Feudi said, he “did all kinds of manual labor.”
“When I came back, I was doing maintenance and moving jobs and people were calling me for all kinds of stuff,” he said. “I was getting a haircut with a guy who actually works with me now and I asked him, ‘How’d you become a barber?’ and he said, ‘You can do it in five months, full time, or 10 months, part time, at BOCES, or work for free as an apprentice until the owner of a shop is comfortable with you cutting hair. At that time, my son was 8, so I said, ‘I don’t have time to work for free.’”
But a dirt-bike accident, Feudi said, reframed things.
“I couldn’t do ladders or maintenance work, so I went back to that barbershop, in a straight leg brace, hobbling around the chair, and worked for free,” he said. “That was nine years ago.”
In the intervening years, Feudi said, he earned his master barber certification through the state, apprenticing at several area barbershops. Throughout the process, he said, he honed plans for his own stylized space.
“I always knew I wanted to have a garage theme and a motorcycle lift,” he said, noting that he’s “a big motorcycle enthusiast.”
“I’ve been doing a soft-opening (since April 15), where I’ve been cutting people and getting clients back up, and the guys I hired were all barbers before — so it’s two master barbers and two apprentices.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re the best barber there is, unless they look at your place and say, ‘I want to go there,’” he continued. “My theory was, create a space that wows you from the beginning, off the initial look, and once they come in after being drawn by the atmosphere, they leave with a great haircut and look as good as the place.”
Services and clients, Feudi said, run the gamut.
“We do haircuts, fades, hot-towel shaves … and, we do long hair as well, but I wouldn’t say I’m a stylist; more like men’s-type styles,” he said. “We do have plenty of female clients, just looking for more men’s styles, and all different types of hair and demographics.
“My client base has always been pretty extensive,” Feudi continued. “The first barbershop I worked for, I was the only white person, so I have a lot of ethnic clients and a lot of male and female. When I opened, I thought it would be a big college demographic, but you’d be surprised how many older men are seeing the garage theme, with the lift and the checkerboard floor and the pool table, and they come in right off the street. So, I wouldn’t say we have a specific demographic; I’ve done everything from a 9-month-old to an 80-year-old.”
Feudi said he is planning a grand-opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for June.
And he said early customer responses have been enthusiastic.
“I have had nothing but great feedback from the community,” he said. “A major reason I wanted this space, right on Main Street, was to give back, more than I already was, and everyone really likes the atmosphere and aesthetic.”
Feudi said he hopes to build on that spirit.
“I want to bridge the gap between multiple communities in the area,” he said. “I’m a motorcycle enthusiast, and that’s a huge demographic of people that don’t necessarily care about their hair, but the ability to have something for them to feel like they’re at home and not estranged in the environment, is awesome.”
Feudi said he hopes, too, to organize a benefit run that dovetails his passions and helps boost area commerce.
Feudi said he accepts walk-ins and new clients. Zip’s Chop Shop is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday; 10 to 3, Wednesday; and 10 to 6, Thursday and Friday.
For more information, or to book an appointment, find “Zip’s Chop Shop” on Facebook, call 631-456-3935 or visit the shop’s Google page.