Courtesy of Ballston Spa Barber Club
By Jill Nagy
Raffael Rispo and Gilberto Barron-Nunez have been friends for many years. They learned barbering together and, for almost 10 years, worked for the same company. Now, they have their own shop, Ballston Spa Barber Club in Ballston Spa.
“It’s just a barber shop,” Rispo explained. The “club” reflects their strong interest in sports. There are no membership requirements or dues. “We want to cater to all kinds of people, he added.”
The shop is located in the busy Carousel Village, between a gym and karate studio, near several restaurants and a hair salon, and across from a former Pizza Hut morphing into a Ted’s Fish Fry.
“The barbershop fits in well here,” Rispo said.
Walk-ins are welcome, encouraged in fact, but they also accept the appointments.
Most of the shop’s business is haircuts. They also give “really good shaves, especially hot towel shaves,” he said. “We love doing that.”
For clients who do not shave, they trim, sculpt, and otherwise take care of beards.
“A lot of our client have beards. They are very prevalent,” he said.
They also see a lot of children and offer a discount rate for those 12 years of age or under.
Rispo and Barron-Nunez are joined in the shop by two other barbers, Shane Cook and Pierre Lamoyne. A fifth chair is vacant but could be available to a barber with experience and a following. Rispo’s fiancee, Allison Wildy, a hairdresser, practices in an adjoining room.
In the four months since the shop opened, business has been “very nice,” Rispo said. He finds that people are excited to have a barber shop in the area, particularly in a very active plaza with plenty of parking.
Neither of the principals is from the Saratoga area. Rispo is from Yonkers. Barron-Nunez is from Los Banos, California. Rispo has family in the area and the two often came to visit and “just loved the area.” Eventually, they stopped visiting and became permanent residents.
Rispo’s father was a barber and tried unsuccessfully to get him interested in the business right after high school. He resisted and tried other things. When nothing else worked out, he joined his father’s shop, Major League Barber.
Both the Barber Club and its owners are very involved in the community, Rispo said. The shop sponsors soccer teams every season and they are involved in school sports activities. Both have school-aged children.
Ballston Spa Barber Club, located at 2100 Doubleday Avenue, is open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.