For the past eight years, Barbearia has been pampering its customers in Marietta, Georgia, with a warm and personal barber experience. “We wanted something where people would slow down and talk to each other, look at each other’s faces, and make new connections,” said co-owner Camila Nogueira.
That’s the energy the shop exudes, helmed by master barber Fabiano Nogueira, who has been sharing his gift for cutting hair since he was a 15-year-old kid in Brazil. After immigrating to the United States at the age of 25, he considered getting a job in construction, but two days after arriving, he was inside a barbershop, and he hasn’t looked back.
Fabiano met Camila in 2012 when she was running a cleaning business and co-owned a small car dealership with her dad. She decided she wanted them to focus on one thing and suggested her husband use part of the space for his thriving barber business. But he had a dream of opening a one-of-a-kind barbershop, the kind of shop where he always longed to work.
“We knew the neighborhood needed it,” said Camila. “We went around and looked for places, but nobody was doing the traditional thing, and we really wanted to bring that back.”
The challenge: A balky system that stalled growth
Their vision called for a welcoming space featuring vintage barber chairs and other finds they’d sourced and restored from all over the country. But the team needed more than a beautiful space to build a business. They needed tools that could help set them up for success. But their first foray into booking tools and software did everything besides what the team needed it to do.
The software was a balky system that was challenging to navigate, adding an extra burden for clients. “Just imagine you’re driving down the road trying to make an appointment, and you have to log in with your email, then a password. That wasn’t creating an ideal client experience,” said Fabiano.
The less-than-ideal experience continued when appointment changes arose and lapses in the system led to communication breakdowns, leading clients to show up for appointments that had been recently rescheduled. Bringing in customers is a challenge for any new business, but between system issues and the lack of a connected experience, the husband-and-wife duo knew it was time for a change.
The solution: An elevated customer experience backed by flexible tools
Camila and Fabiano ultimately decided on Square to power their business and went on to set up the hardware in 20 minutes with the help of customer support. “Square makes our business easier in every aspect,” said Fabiano. “I love to get my hands on it at the end of the week and see the numbers.”
Since adopting Square, the business has tackled significant growth—even a second location—and has consistently delivered on its promise of purposeful and quality service. Tools like Square Appointments keep the day flowing smoothly, with booking, check-in, and payment in one simple system that helps manage traffic and reduce wait times. With one simple system, the team has been able to streamline operations in front and behind the scenes, leading to improved customer interactions from the time they make their appointment to when they leave the chair.
Tools like Square Messages also help improve customer interactions by making responses more flexible and tailored to the customer’s concerns or schedule. “If clients shoot us a question, we can respond right away. If we have to make any last-minute announcements, we can quickly shoot a text, instead of hoping they answer a last minute phone call,” Camila explained.
Fabiano recalled a time when he witnessed this in real time earlier this year. “One of my recent clients came in and said, ‘Oh, I’m glad you all have this app because I was at home and completely forgot about my appointment, and all of a sudden, I get my reminder text message,” he said.
Beyond being able to connect with customers at will, the Barbearia team is also able to track what communications are working and resonating most with customers so they can tailor their outreach. “If we have a first-time customer, we send a welcome email through Square Marketing thanking them for being here and giving them the option to easily rebook,” she said. “And I love how I can go in the system and see how many appointments and how much revenue is associated with a particular email…it helps us measure how we can get our return on that investment.”
The impact: The ability to build a community beyond the business
With Square in place to simplify operations, the Barbearia team can spend more time on the thing that matters most—the people that make it all possible. From staff, to clients, and the community itself, Barbearia is focused on creating an impact that goes far beyond a haircut.
“I ultimately want to bring better barbers to the world,” Fabiano said. “Over the past ten years, I’ve been able to help license seven barbers who have come and wanted to learn from me.”
One of Barbearia’s barbers shared one of the reasons working with Fabiano is so special. “I’d never seen anything like him before,” the barber recalled when first meeting Fabiano. “I noticed little things about him like what he’d be doing versus what other people would be doing. Sometimes, he’d be doing something completely different than hair between clients.” His ability to balance it all and make sure every client still feels special is the key to the traditional barbering that Fabiano and Camila set out to recreate.
Fabiano is so passionate about bringing back the idea of traditional barbering that he’s thinking about opening a barber school in Atlanta. “Just imagine a school where we can teach our students, make them better barbers, and bring them into the Barbearia family,” he said. Expanding the business in a way that helps build up the community and emphasizes the art of barbering is a strategic way to blend passion with a focus on legacy.
With tools that enable more intentional time with clients and the ability to ideate on plans that uplift the community, Barbearia is committed to being more than a barbershop. Camila summed up the business’s mission saying: “At Barbearia, the haircut is just the cherry on top.”
