Siblings stay ahead to keep salon a cut above

Such was the buzz around the trendy new salon on Eyre Square, clients travelled from as far away as Dublin to get an appointment with the owner.

While everyone calls him Barry, the owner’s real name is Joseph McKenna.

Now operated in tandem with his son and daughter, Paul and Vicky McKenna, Barry’s – located on Shop Street for the last 30 years – is certainly one of the longest running and definitely one of the most popular hairdressers in town, with no less than 22 staff working on the floor.

Hairdressing is a tough business and that has been definitely the case during the past last five years, when an avalanche of well-established businesses, with a long list of clients on their books – some of them the biggest names in hairdressing – have fallen by the wayside.

Barry’s has weathered that storm, remarkably with all their staff intact. They now boast a state-of-the-art studio beside Eason’s bookshop and have expanded their services to offer an array of beauty services. They have shunned the trend of discount websites, preferring instead to offer loyalty cards and gift vouchers to returning customers.

So what is the secret to their longevity and success?

It all began with Joseph McKenna learning his trade under the watchful eye of his father in McKennas Barbers on Bridge Street in Westport. His brother Sean took over the business so Joseph decided to take the leap into ladies hairdressing. The barber’s still operates and is now run by a cousin.

Joseph moved to Dublin and worked in the Hair Creations Salon on Grafton Street. There was another Joseph working on the floor at the time and as was usual in that era, he simply picked a name out of thin air and adopted it to avoid confusion. And so Barry was born.

After a few years he decided to open his own salon but found he did not have enough time to continue training and operate the salon on his own. He returned to work for somebody else before he opened in Galway in 1974.

“Training and holding onto staff are the biggest things in our business,” says his son Paul about his father’s approach to the salon. “He felt continual training was just so important. He still does. We’re always sending staff on courses or bringing in guest artists to keep their skills up to date.”

A location on Eyre Square was chosen because clients could park outside the door. Back then there was not the same choice for women who wanted the latest hairstyles.

“His clients followed him from Dublin. There was a four- to six week-waiting list to get in. Body waves were the big thing back then and he specialised in that. But his cutting was always very strong. He also makes blow drys look effortless. It doesn’t look like he’s doing much but then you see the results,” Paul says.

The salon remained on Eyre Square for a decade before Joseph set up a school of hairdressing in that premises and moved the salon to Shop Street.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.