Corktown is about to get a new barbershop. And it’s not just any barbershop — it’ll be two stories and inhabit a building originally from near the turn of the 1900s.
This new barbershop will be the second location for the Detroit Grooming Company. The new location will be in Corktown right on Michigan Avenue.
The Detroit Grooming Company started in 2013 with a line of men’s grooming products. The next step was the opening of a full service barber shop in April of 2016. The first location is in Ferndale on Woodward.
We were able to take a tour of the new location today, and thought we’d take you along to see the progress.
The building is located on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Vermont. Detroit Grooming Company Barbershop will occupy the entire building. Let’s start back to front.
Part of the building was built in the early 1900s, and the addition was built sometime in the 1940s. The owner of the building had to do a lot of structural work on the entire building to keep it from collapsing.
The barber shop will have a patio and two balconies for customers to hang out in. 
The building has some amazing windows, that bring in a lot of natural light. Here’s the second floor.
The views from the second floor of the shop are pretty great.
Half of the space will the barber shop and the other half will be used as retail for Detroit Grooming Company products.
The barbershop will offer men a classic barbershop experience like haircuts, hot shaves, manicures, pedicures, and their special hangover treatment.
There will be between thirteen and fifteen stations between the lower and upper floors. Four or five of the Ferndale barbers will be going between both locations. They have also hired seven additional barbers for the Corktown location.
While the co-owner Chad Buchanan was taking us through the space he gave us insight to a lot of the antique pieces that they have collected for the shop.
The barber chairs, lights, and one of the benches came from Baglio’s Cutler in Croswell, Michigan. Up until two years ago, that barbershop was the longest running barbershop in Michigan. 
Buchanan will be bringing down three of the original barber stations down from that shop. The stations were built in 1882, and are solid wood.
Most of the antiques have come from Detroit Antiques Mall.
You’re not going to find a television at either location, because that takes away from the vintage barbershop experience. You will find three vintage radios and a jukebox from 1947.
“It’s not even about the service, it’s the conversation that comes from the service with no TVs and none of that stuff is amazing. We’re talking about everything and nothing all at the same time,” said Buchanan. “That’s why we don’t have a TV, that’s why the radio is at a certain level so we can all still have a conversation. It’s really funny when the barbers and all the customers are all having a conversation and they all connect. Or don’t connect. We have some fun heated conversations.”
There is still some work left to do on the building, but the pace is fast. The final inspections are next week. Buchanan is hoping that the lower level of the shop will be ready to be open later this month.