“I need a trim up top, a straight-razor shave and hot towel and a rye Old Fashioned, please.”
The only place you’ll overhear such an order? Metric Barber & Shop, 23 SE Third St. in downtown Lee’s Summit.
It’s the one-stop men’s shop built by longtime stylist Ian O’Connell - right across the street from Metric, O’Connell’s original downtown business of 11 years.
After much consideration of what men need - and, equally, what they want - during a trip to the barber, O’Connell opened his concept in October 2022.
“I’m not reinventing the wheel,” he said. “I decided I wanted to do this about 7, 8 years ago, and when COVID hit. At the time, I thought to myself, ‘Business could all end tomorrow.’”
After a conversation with Seth Allen, owner and proprietor of Libations & Company, O’Connell knew it was his time to make his second-business dream a reality.
“I talked to Seth and knew he was moving next door, and I knew it didn’t get any better than that,” O’Connell said of his new location, which was originally a barber shop a century ago.
A concept just for men - cuts, shaves, skin care and cocktails - makes sense for O’Connell, an 18-year veteran stylist who found his way into the business following a successful career as a touring musician, working with the likes of Clive Davis and recording a few albums along the way. He went to hair school as a backup plan. And the rest, as they say, is history.
After working at a salon in Longview, O’Connell and his wife, Tara, started scouting spots for a future salon. Downtown Lee’s Summit wasn’t originally on his radar, either.
“Tara invited me to Downtown Days, this was right after the completion of the streetscape, and we sat on the deck at the Peanut, and I thought, ‘This place is pretty cool.’ I was driving by the 28 spot and (the former building owner) was taping the ‘For Rent’ sign in the window. I gave her a check for $1,000 to just hold the spot until my wife and I could come by to see the location. After we did, we signed the lease right then.”
His downtown luck continued when he found the building at 23 SE Third St. for his new concept.
“I reached out to Shane and Bill, I’m thankful that they chose me to take it,” he said. “Anytime you put your name on the dotted line on a brick and mortar storefront, especially when the future of brick and mortar is so up in the air, it’s terrifying, but I’m glad I did it.”
So what prompted the ‘guys only’ idea? “If I was a guy getting a haircut, where would I want to hangout to listen to good music, have a good cocktail and relax?” he asked. “There’s a lot of guys that don’t want to go to a salon for their grooming services or where their wives go.”
Metric Barber & Shop offers haircuts, full shaves, straight razor, beard trims and grooming, a full skin care line - and of course, cocktails. The Smoke n Mirrors (a smoked Old Fashioned) is the best seller. The shop also features Bloody Mary’s, mimosas, a Tito’s Metric Mule and Fire in the Hole - a beer and shot of fireball. You can get anything from a $3 beer to a $150 pour of bourbon.
“Who doesn’t love a drink with their haircut, right?” O’Connell said.
The old-school barber shop look includes a barber’s chair from the 1920s and a piece of Hollywood memorabilia - Cedric the Entertainer’s chair from the movie “Barber Shop.”
“I absolutely love downtown Lee’s Summit,” said O’Connell, a member of the Downtown CID Board of Directors who purchased his 28 SE Third St. building in 2019. “And this location … I love it. I can literally be at two places at one time, although I feel like one of these days I’m going to get busted for jaywalking. So I just sprint across the street.”
For an appointment at Metric Barber & Shop, visit metricbarber.net.