Michael Portman and Jayson Rapaport, co-owners of Birds Barbershop, are not barbers, nor do they consider owning the business a hobby.
Yet for nearly 10 years they have operated a company based on affordable and top-quality haircuts and fun.
“Basically our whole mission is to take the chore out of getting a haircut,” Portman said.
The two are childhood friends from Laredo, Texas. After graduating high school, they parted ways for different coasts. Portman worked for The Walt Disney Co. in Los Angeles, and Rapaport worked in finance in New York.
Then they both moved to Austin where they saw a niche for a middle-priced barbershop that catered to all people, including services for women, which was an early component of opening Birds.
A stylist cuts hair at the South Lamar Boulevard store, which was the first Birds Barbershop location.[/caption]“It’s haircut; it’s a conversation; it’s a beer; it’s some music,” Portman said. “It really kind of built itself. We really crafted Birds with Austin as its main influencer.”
After securing a small-business loan at a small-business fair, they opened the first store in May 2006 on South Lamar Boulevard at Oltorf Street. They opened their second store one year later on Burnet Road north of RM 2222, a decision they agreed might not have been the best idea.
Portman and Rapaport waited five years before finding the right spot for the Slaughter Lane store.[/caption]“I don’t know if demand really got to the point [for a second store],” Rapaport said. “We just did it anyway.”
Now with years of living in Austin under their belts, they have a pulse on which neighborhoods would benefit the most from a Birds Barbershop. They do review data on population density, but they are picky about finding just the right location, Portman said.
From left: Jayson Rapaport and Michael Portman opened Birds Barbershop in May 2006.[/caption]“We don’t force ourselves into any spot,” Rapaport said. “We have locations where we would like to be where we’re not. We don’t have a master plan.”
For years they had targeted another South Austin location, and they sought to target the Circle C area. The Slaughter Lane shop opened in January 2014.
“We wanted to open the Slaughter store for five-plus years before opening it,” Portman said. “Our gut was right on that one. That was a pent-up need that we knew just because we live in South Austin.”
