Anna and Fabian O’Reilly looking forward to reopening their Barber Shop in Ballyjamesduff.

‘Our business will come back from this’

Barbers hope to reopen in May

“We have missed 32 weeks since the 14th of March, 2020. The only good thing now is, our business will come back from this, because everybody will need a hair cut.”

That was the view offered by a Ballyjamesduff-based barber speaking to the Celt last week.

Anna O’Reilly is one half of the husband and wife team behind O’Reilly’s Barbers at Dublin Street, Ballyjamesduff. Anna and Fabian are hopeful of having their clippers back in hand by late May or early June.

“We will appreciate the things we have even more then. We will be keeping our business local and helping everybody out,” said Anna.

When the Celt called last week, the couple were just back home from a walk. They revealed that they had been stopped three times along the way and asked “are we doing any hair cuts?”.

“I have done one hair cut since Christmas Eve and that was my husband Fabian’s hair. We run a professional business and would not do any haircuts now, because we have too much to lose. We will be in this business 17 years in May,” said Anna.

While accepting that some level Covid restrictions are necessary, they question the way things have run in Ireland compared to other countries.

“It been a very tough year for us in business. Our son William also worked here with us for 10 years and he is now a barbering in Vancouver. They are not in a lockdown, so William has only been out of work for eight weeks during the whole year,” explained Anna.

She is looking forward to welcoming her customers back into the salon. “The customers love the banter in the shop and young men like to feel good.

“If they don’t have their hair cut, it does affect them. The young men are into skin fades or a foil fade,” said Anna, who says hair trends are usually set by footballers and TV stars.

“If a young up-and-coming football star has a foil fade, then the young fellas will follow,” she added.

The couple started out their career in Dublin. “We moved down to Ballyjamesduff from Dublin for a quieter life and, from the day we opened, it went from strength to strength and has given us a great life. We have great friends in Ballyjamesduff – customers who became great friends,” said Anna.

“We walk past the shop every day on our walk and part of our life is missing.

“We are hoping to get back to it sooner rather than later.”