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Business & Tech

Local Barbershop Makes Haircuts Fun

Rocky Point Barbershop boasts two big-screen TVs and a pool table to entertain patrons.

The story itself is clichéd - two Turkish-American immigrants come to the United States to live out the American dream.

Yavuz “Anthony” Can, 35, and Gokhan “John” Ucar, 27, run the Rocky Point Barber Shop on Route 25A in Rocky Point. The two are cousins - “Unfortunately,” Ucar said, jokingly - and banter back and forth like best friends. But nothing about these two is clichéd. They bring a unique sense of personality and humor to their job that continues to bring back customers.

With two large flat screen TV’s - one situated above the register and connected to an XBox 360, the other in the back of the shop connected to a surround-sound system and a DVD player capable of playing any of the nearly 400 movies the cousins have accumulated - and a pool table, customers don’t mind spending
time waiting to get their hair cut.

“It’s the man cave,” Ucar said in describing the shop. “A woman came in one day, looked around, and said, ‘This is a man cave.'” The moniker stuck.

The cousins said it’s the actual hair cuts, and the price they charge, that's the biggest reason customers continue to come back. The pair offers $10 hair cuts, as well as hot towel shaves. They also give discounts to kids under 12 and senior citizens.

“You sit in the chair and in 15 minutes, boom, we make you look good,” Can said. “We make you look handsome.”

They can go from talking about how to beat “Call of Duty” with a 5-year-old to discussing another snow storm that’s supposed to hit the area with a senior citizen.

Both previously worked at Commack Corner Barber Shop prior to opening the shop in Rocky Point in December 2010. They drove down 25A one day last October and saw the vacant building. Within two months, they had set up shop.

Can now estimates that they see between 60 and 100 customers a day. “We’re not trying to get rich,” Ucar said. “We’re just trying to make a living.”

It’s not always easy, but it's almost always interesting, they said. The two tell stories about children arguing with their parents and bringing it to the barber’s chair, adult men stomping around because they came in on the one day their barber of choice had taken off, and even a strange guy asking multiple times to have his eyebrows shaved off.

“I don’t like hair,” Ucar joked. “I’m a hair enemy - when I see it, I shave it off.”

It’s the light sense of humor and dedication to their craft that has made the shop a quick success.

“I was always a barber, all over Suffolk County,” Can said. “Running our own place is much better. There’s no boss, no dirty guy breathing down your neck. We’re as successful as a 10-year old business in only one year.”

As the first customer after a short lull walked into the store one afternoon, Ucar got out of his seat and ushered the man over to the barber chair. The man sat down and told Ucar exactly what he wanted.

“We’re going to make you famous today,” Ucar replied.

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