Sleek black leather chair, straight-blade shave, warm clean hot towel and shampooed head massage; this is the showmanship of Joe Clark of Clark’s Barber Lounge. You will find his chairs in unorthodox places such as Cadillac dealerships, a gym, and his flagship location modeled after a speakeasy. But Joe was not always this flashy, in fact, the way he tells it, he became a barber out of necessity. As a kid growing up in Puerto Rico, Joe said while other kids played sports and video games, he taught himself how to cut fades.
“I come from a single mom and early on, I felt the urge to help her, so I started cutting hair,” Joe said. "I got good, fast and then my friends would come around asking for haircuts."
In high school, Joe started working in a barbershop and shadowed the number one barber in Puerto Rico, his mentor Bolivar. Although it was a humble establishment, Joe said that hometown barber shop brought in people from all walks of life. At the young age of 16, Joe was becoming a popular barber, brushing up with famous people from all over the island.
"People came into the barber shop from all walks of life," Joe said. "It was a really humble barbershop, the working man's barbershop, but the haircuts were really good. What made us stand out was that Bolivar had moved to Puerto Rico from New York, so he brought the city's influence to Puerto Rico."
At the encouragement of his mentor, Joe decided to go to barber school and get his barbering degree. Joe then traveled to big cities himself, barbering in New York and Orlando, learning to elevate his style to match the energy of his clients. He began to offer quality services to his customers such as a hot towel shave and hair shampooing, which had become uncommon in the barbershop.
“Hot towel shaves have always been part of barbering but in the 90s most shops were focused on volume. But around 2012, all the beards and mustaches and grooming became more popular, and that’s when we opened our Clark’s Barber Lounge."
In 2015, Joe and his brother JC opened their flagship location, Clark’s Barber Lounge in Fort Walton Beach and soon had more clients than they could handle. Joe called his barber friends from large cities across the country and convinced them to move to the Emerald Coast area to help him; he even brought his original mentor Bolivar to work in his shop.
“I guess I came at the right time, and I hit a niche because there were not a lot of barbers using straight razors, and doing long services, so there was really a bigger market for that,” Joe said.
With the help of social media, online booking services and word of mouth referrals, Joe started attracting clients from Pensacola to 30A, and was soon asked to open shops up and down the Emerald Coast.
So just how did he end up with chairs in Cadillac dealerships? It was just one impressed client with a novel idea.
“The Step One Automotive CEO at the time was a client of mine, and he mentioned he had extra space in his dealerships. We set up two shops in their Cadillac dealerships, one in Pensacola and one in Fort Walton Beach."
After the success of the Cadillac dealership barbershops, Joe set out to replicate the idea in other out-of-the-box locations. He next opened a barber chair inside of a club and then opened a location inside of Destin Health and Fitness. Now with four locations running strong, Joe said he is just focused on the next person in his chair.
"I love barbering and I can honestly say it saved my life," Joe said. "It's nice to be involved with the community, share memorable times with clients and see growth in the community. I keep barbering because it’s something I enjoy and there’s nothing like enjoying what you do and who you surround yourself with."