John McGuire - Proprietor, Fat Tony’s Barbers

Written by Administrator

Wednesday, 05 September 2007

Name: John McGuire
Occupation: Proprietor, Fat Tony’s Barbers
Location: Annaghdown
Favourite thing about Galway: The people
Worst thing about Galway: The traffic

When John McGuire moved to Galway 17 years ago, he planned for it to be the ‘first step on a world tour’. Instead he settled down, making the city his home and the location of his business.

John went to school in Ballina, Co. Mayo but left at the age of 16 when he decided that academics weren’t for him. He decided to move to Galway City and began working as a hairdresser with Michael Daniels Hairdressing. After a few years in Galway, John was hooked and worked in many different barbers around the city. During this time, he worked with Catriona Herron and in 2003 they decided to set up their own business – Fat Tony’s Barbers.

The name for the business came from John’s childhood nickname and he says that he aimed to create an atmosphere of a traditional barbershop with a wide range of male grooming options.

“We didn’t want to create a typical barbers. Nowadays, there seems to be this culture of rushing people in and out. We wanted to go back to the time where going to the barbers was a relaxing experience. I remember going to the barber as a child and it was a completely different experience.

“We offer a wide range of treatments for men, including massage and hot towel shaves to de-stress and chill out. We are also planning to introduce shoe shining as well, which was much more common in the past.”

Fat Tony’s began with two staff and four barbers chairs, but has now expanded with 16 staff employed in the two premises in Liosban and Deerpark. John says that customers have become more specific about what they want, with many becoming more adventurous about their looks.

“Especially when kids are going back to school, you get a lot of customers coming in for highlights and styles like that, which wouldn’t have been as popular with men before. Different variations of the mullet would probably be the most common haircuts at the moment. Men are definitely becoming more aware of their looks and are putting more effort in. I think people like David Beckham have put more of an emphasis on styling for men.

“People can be apprehensive about getting treatments such as waxing or facials at first, but after they go once, you see them coming back all the time!”

Business has been booming and John says that being his own boss allows him to have a better work/life balance and spend more time with his children. In the future, John hopes to expand his business further and possibly franchise the ‘Fat Tony’s’ brand. In the meantime, he is happy to work away and spend his free time on his most recent passion – gardening. Although his favourite part of his job is the human interaction, he says that he finds himself spending increasing amounts of time doing paperwork.

“Running a business means that you do have to spend a lot of time in the office taking care of the books but I hate it. I’d much rather be out on the floor cutting hair and pressing the flesh because that’s why I got into this business in the first place!” he says.

“Setting up the business means that I can spend more time with my family, something that wouldn’t be possible if I was working for somebody else. Some people working in this industry would be working up to 13 hour days. I start work at about 8.15am to get the salon set up before we open at nine and I usually finish then in the evening at six or seven. It’s important to get a good work/life balance.”

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