New Haven Independent

When Urbaez was growing up in the Dominican Republic, his mom was a hairdresser. At age 11, he picked up the scissors himself and tried his skills on his brother, who’s almost seven years younger.

Asked Tuesday how that first haircut turned out, Urbaez laughed. “I got better though,” he added quickly.

He told the story on Tuesday afternoon standing on a sidewalk in the Hill in front of the planned location of the Elite Barber Shop, which he is working to open with his brother.

John Urbaez, now 22, joined Gianfranco, who’ll be 29 on Friday, at the corner of Washington Avenue and Spring Street, where the brothers are in the process of converting an old United Illuminating transfer station (pictured) into a classy new barber shop. John had his close-cropped hair neatly edged. Gianfranco’s coiffure was hidden under a ball cap.

The brothers appeared on Tuesday evening before the Board of Zoning Appeals, looking for city permission to move forward with their business plan. The board did not vote on the item, which will need approval from the City Plan Commission.

“I’ve always been a barber,” Gianfranco said. “It’s in our blood.”

John and Gianfranco came to the Hill neighborhood from the Dominican Republic in 1995 with their sister and their mother, who now owns a hair salon in West Haven. For a few years, Gianfranco had a barber shop in West Haven called Headlynaz. It eventually folded, but Gianfranco said his customers have stayed loyal. They now come to his house to get their hair cut. “I got my own clientele,” he said.

That’s one reason that Gianfranco and John said they feel optimistic about opening a new business in a down economy. They said they’ve got the support of the neighborhood. “We grew up here,” Gianfranco said.

The brothers work construction together now. Gianfranco was working on Tuesday at Roberto Clemente School, his alma mater.

He said that he and his brother are remodeling the first-floor space themselves. They plan to have seven barber chairs and a mural on the back wall.

Inside on Tuesday, amid construction debris, there were already circular leather seats ringing two poles in the high-ceilinged space. There are no windows in the formerly industrial space, but the brothers hope to add a couple in the front wall.

Many city barbershops become gathering spots for men to hang out and socialize. The Urbaez brothers said that’s not what they want for their operation. “No. We’re not interested in that,” said Gianfranco.

“Nobody can hang out in front,” John said. “This is a business. It’s not a club.”

“No crazy late-night stuff,” Gianfranco said.

Gianfranco said that for he and his brother, the fact that they have kids motivates them to make the business a success. Gianfranco has three children; John has two.

“My purpose of opening the business is to benefit the community,” John told the Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday night. Reading from prepared remarks penned in a spiral notebook, John said that the barber shop would provide employment for local barbers.

Mario Lara (pictured), who owns the building, called the barber shop a welcome use for a space that has been vacant for 20 years. Half of the first floor is used by a church and there are two apartments on the second floor.

“I think it will be a great place for everybody,” Gianfranco said.