High Point Barbershop’s 10-year celebration in the West End (Photo by Jay Paul)
When High Point Barbershop first opened its doors in 2014, shows such as “Peaky Blinders” and war films like “Fury” — featuring male leads with high-and-tight skin fades — dictated hairstyles for many in Richmond. Co-founder David Foster has since seen trends change rapidly, but he owes the shop’s success to a commitment to barbering’s historical high standards.
“For us, it’s just about staying true to the classics that we know, but also being adaptable to take what you see from Hollywood or from fashion and finding out how that adapts to the average person,” Foster says.
High Point Barbershop marks 10 years of traditional short cuts and grooming this fall, looking back on a decade of growth from its start with three chairs in the shop on Meadow Street in the Fan.
“I became a barber because I thought it would be a cool place to have a job,” Foster says. “I liked the concept of being able to ingrain myself within the community, being able to have these funny conversations with all different types of people, but I didn’t picture this kind of business we’ve built; it happened along the way.”
Jared Galloway, the shop’s first employee and eventual partner at the barbershop’s newest outpost on Three Chopt Road, notes that the brand immediately filled a need for short cuts in Richmond.
“Demand was super high. ... We had Ross Trimmer from Sure Hand Signs hand paint on the window in gold leaf, ‘Walk-ins welcome, appointments guaranteed.’ Within, like, a week, we were scraping off that ‘walk-in’ part just because the demand was insane.”
Increasingly long wait times led to the need for more space and spurred their ventures into Scott’s Addition in 2017 and, after a pandemic-related delay, the West End location in 2021.
In another growth-minded move, Foster and the team expanded beyond their brick-and-mortar walls with a line of skin- and hair care products, including hair and beard oil, a styling cream, and, most recently, shampoo and conditioner, under the brand High Point Originals. “We tested it, we tried it in the shop, we made sure our clients liked it, we made sure our staff liked it, and then we started to produce it,” Foster says. The products are available online and from their stores.
Looking into the next decade, High Point’s management is eyeing a different kind of growth, one that supports the barbering industry locally. “We’ve never really had an issue with clients, meaning getting them in — what we have an issue with is finding enough barbers,” Galloway says.
The lack of professionals in the industry inspired the brand’s leadership to plan their forthcoming venture, an academy for training new barbers. Once opened, the goal is to feed trainees back into High Point’s locations or elsewhere in the region. “That’s a concept that we are actively working on right now,” Foster adds. “It’s still a plan, but we’re really excited about it.”
For the time being, Foster and the crew are most driven by the community that’s given them support from the start. “When it comes to supporting small businesses, pop-ups and local brands that are just trying to get out of the big box mentality, Richmond couldn’t be a better place for that,” he says. “That’s such a huge part of what makes Richmond special.”
