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It’s all about the experience inside Bay Shore’s soon-to-be-opened Noble Savage Barbershop.
“We want people to feel like they paid for the best haircut they ever got, while receiving the best treatment,” says Cesar Torres, one of the shop’s owners. “We want our clients to be on cloud nine when they leave us.”
Torres — who is launching the project with friends Tom O’Rourke and Carlos Delgado — plans to swing the doors open at 6 Fourth Avenue later this month. The barbershop, which is just south of Tullulah’s, is in the space that last held Right Coast Gallery.
According to the owners, the idea is to make Noble Savage a one-stop-shop for its male clientele. In addition to haircuts and shaves, the shop will offer hair coloring, massages, even manicures and pedicures.
“It is a one-stop-shop for a guy,” says Torres, 40. “There is no place where a guy can go comfortably to get a manicure and pedicure.”
The three, who never worked in the barbering industry before, longed to open a barbershop after years of receiving mediocre service elsewhere, they said.
“I remember thinking about one experience where I had to wait over an hour to get a cut,” said Torres, who lives in North Babylon. “We are in the service industry so we know how important it is to provide great service.”
Both Torres and O’Rourke both worked in airport operations across the U.S. for 20-plus years.
During that time, O’Rourke remembered one of their favorite moments while working at John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens.
“There was this old-school Italian barbershop in Terminal Four,” said O’Rourke, of East Patchogue. “Every time I left him, I felt like a million bucks.”
Torres and O’Rourke would go on to relish that experience, even leading to Torres to cut his friends and other employees’ hair at work.
“I would fall asleep when he cut my hair,” said O’Rourke, laughing.
The idea of opening their own place picked up steam when the group expanded to include Delgado, who was befriended by O’Rourke after years of coaching his son in soccer.
“I asked him what he wanted to do when he retired,” O’Rourke said. “He said he wanted to own a barbershop, and it was off from there.”
Delgado, who owns a painting company, says the combination of the three men is perfect for business.
“We are not three of the same people; we are completely different and offer different skills,” said the Centereach native. “But the one thing we all have in common is we love going to a barbershop.”
Together the team checked out over 20 locations across the South Shore. Bay Shore was their favorite spot.
“Bay Shore is a great, up-and-coming town,” said Torres. “They are putting up new restaurants, new apartments are going up, and because of that we feel like it is the right place for us.”
After taking over the space a few months ago, the property has been transformed into an old-school barbershop with an industrial look.
“We built this place with our bare hands,” said Delgado.
One of the owners’ favorite items in the shop is their vintage barbering chairs.
“I saw the chairs at a barbershop convention in Connecticut,” said Torres. “Once I showed the guys it gave us even more inspiration.”
more photos below
They then went on to fulfill their vision.
“We’ve traveled across the world and we saw some really cool shops, but we saw the flaws, too,” said O’Rourke.
“This place plugs in where all those inefficiencies are.”
how the experience works
The Noble Savage experience begins when a patron either books an appointment online or walks through the door. Every time a client enters the store they are greeted by a hostess.
“We are going to understand your likings,” said Torres. “Our hostess is going to ask what you like to drink, we are going to keep those records, so when you come back you are greeted with your favorite things.”
If there is a wait for a haircut, the customer can then choose to either get a massage, manicure, pedicure or just lounge on the four couches.
As far as the barbers go, each professional hired will have gone through a training program.
“We want all of our haircuts to be great, no matter who you go to,” said O’Rourke.
And they already have a local celebrity talent champing at the bit for a fresh cut.
“I’m so excited to see the new place that Tom and Carlos are openin,g and I’m definitely getting my hair cut there before my performances,” said America’s Got Talent’s golden-buzzer winner and Patchogue native Christian Guardino.
That type of excitement is what fuels the team at Noble Savage.
“If they are better human beings when they leave us, whether they are our customers or our barbers, that is our overall goal,” said O’Rourke.
Top: (L-R) Noble Savage Barbershop owners Carlos Delgado, Tom O’Rourke, and Cesar Torres. (Credit: Nicholas Esposito)
