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West Orange County barber adapts during pandemic to mobile barbershop

Barber Luxe Mobile Barbershop is decked out with TV, refrigerator and COVID-19 safety precautions

WINDERMERE, Fla. – In a year that changed our boundaries, Jay Johnson moved to mobile. Six weeks ago, the barber based in West Orange County launched “Barber Luxe Mobile Barbershop.”

News 6 met with Johnson along a quiet cul-de-sac where one of his clients lived.

Johnson gained prominence for a client list that includes PGA golfer Ricky Fowler and Tiger Woods at the Bay Hill Invitational.

He says he provided cuts for 400 golfers in three years.

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Now, he’ll make nearly a dozen stops on a given day to anywhere within Windermere, Hamlin Summer Lake and Bay Hill.

“People want to have high-quality service,” he explained. “People don’t want the in-and-out fast cut.”

The mobile barbershop comes decked out with a refrigerator, television, and an array of COVID-19 precautions.

“It’s very important to stay clean and have a good hygiene on this van,” Johnson said. “We’re responsible for everyone looking nice and clean as well.”

Johnson told News 6 he thought of the idea a decade ago, but it wasn’t brought to life until the pandemic.

“The pandemic pushed me to do it because once I got furloughed from the barbershop, I had to sit home for two months and receive unemployment,” he said. “Barbershops opened May 10. I didn’t go back until June 1st [and when I did,] it was very slow. I went from 16 services to 8 services a day. I didn’t know what I was going to do for my family.”

So far six weeks into this experiment and Johnson said he has no regrets, with some days doing 14 services over 10 hours helping nine people.

“Me and my wife, we were scared because we took everything we had to invest in this dream,” he said. “I will never go back to the barbershop. This is something I will be doing until I’m an old man.”

To learn more, visit 407mobilebarbershop.com.


About the Author
Clay LePard headshot

It has been an absolute pleasure for Clay LePard living and working in Orlando since he joined News 6 in July 2017. Previously, Clay worked at WNEP TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he brought viewers along to witness everything from unprecedented access to the Tobyhanna Army Depot to an interview with convicted double-murderer Hugo Selenski.

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