Billys Chop Shop

Hey everybody, Tom Barnes Chicago scene in the Lincoln Square neighborhood and it wouldn't be a day in Chicago without some construction, specifically road construction, but that's not what we're talking about today. No, we're talking about vivids and funk style. Yeah, you see on Instagram the styles where people have It all happens here at Reverend Billy's Chop Shop right here in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. They just opened this new location formerly on Lincoln Avenue, moved here on Montrose Avenue and they have all the things that make this unique including an art gallery, they have a state of the art I'm going to talk to them now for the Chicago scene. Alright, fans might recognize this piece of artwork from the original location of Reverend Billy's Chop Shop and it's now in a new spot here on Montrose Avenue in Lincoln Square and I'm here with Reverend Billy and his wife Amanda. How are Good, how about you? I'm doing well. Congratulations, you've been here for a month and this space is outstanding. You've got a lot of airy, a lot of room, a little bit different from the old space, correct? Yeah, it's a lot less cramped. We've got better. We've got air exhaust, air circulation because we've learned a lot over the crazy time we've been through over the past couple of years so there's a lot more room in this space. Yeah, I noticed before we started the video you showed the back room or the colorist room where you do all your hair coloring and all that and there's a big functioning air purifier where it ventilates the air which is a big difference I think from a lot of places in the city that don't have but it was important to you guys Not only that but you're cleaning your tensils, you wanted to make sure people knew about your instr Wanted to get that out of the way before we got started. Yeah, I mean there's a lot going on still and so I mean even the colder flue being sick doesn't let me do things I want to do so we wanted to have 100% exhaust in this place so there's no recirculation and just make it safer for our clients, our employees, ourselves. That's it really. And this expanded space has so much more than the other space in it's wide, a lot of windows. The artwork, talk about the Chicago flag and the home base that it was on the Lincoln Avenue store and what you did here. Yeah, so it's the same artist, his name is John Aro. He's a really good friend of ours, Billy and him go way back. But yeah it was such a staple of the original space and people definitely asked what was going to happen with it, with us moving. So we knew I had to come with. And that correlates to just the art gallery that is also functioning out of this space. It's an art gallery, it's a salon, kind of all in one where you are a community space where people can see artwork because you said you Yeah, yeah definitely. We have had artists that are not Chicago based that are from out of state. Most of them have been all Chicago based either friends, clients or just word of mouth. And Reverend, the name, it's more of a name now than it was maybe perhaps a few years ago but there'some genesis to it. You might explain it real quick. Yeah there is. I mean, I think theology is interesting and I was laid up after a bike accident. So I wanted to get ordained so I took a bunch of tests and wound up doing that and that's how I became a Reverend. And you've been in Chicago, are you been doing this for the better part of 30 years? Have you been in Chicago for the last 18 or so, 19 years, something Yeah, roughly I started working here as a stylist in 94. And you both have been together doing this for 12 years starting off with Palmade and now you have your own space here, a lot of air, a lot of room. It's beautifully decorated, you got a lot of Chicago stuff. But That's incredible. Yeah we did. We built them in our garage. They were paying the butt but they turned out pretty cool. For folks who might be looking for a stylist of some kind, what separates you from everybody else as far as what were seeing earlier? I mean you have typical haircuts but you do a lot of coloring of hair where you focus on all inclusive. People from all walks of life are welcome here and that's really what you want people to know about your space, correct? There's inclusivity but there's also a really high level of quality with what we do and I mean we want to keep that going. There's creativity and quality, very high level of quality and creativity here. So we want to keep that going and mixing that with the inclusivity. And you have the artworks throughout the space, you have it, even in the bathrooms Yeah that's another local artist Alexis Moulds along with John Aro that both have contributed art and then with our gallery we rotate that by monthly. Yeah I feel So we really wanted to make the space that as well. So definitely with John doing another ceiling and then with the murals in the bathrooms I feel And you also have products that people can buy here on the shelves, even a little whiskey on the side over there, what's going on there? So we have complimentary drinks for our clients, we have cocktails, whiskey, beer, so it's just that one extra thing that clients really enjoy. And for people who want to come in for a certain service of any kind, what's the best way for them to go about doing that? Is it something they should book online through social media, how's that work? Going online through our website or call us, 773-248-2887. Awesome and how long would you say it takes between appointment booking and the actual date? Is it a wait time? What should people know? It really depends on the stylist, we have some stylists who are available this week, we're definitely getting a lot busier with school starting, but then I also have stylists that are booked out until next year. Well fantastic, I wish I haven't seen it done quite So congrats. Thank you, thank you. Absolutely and we will see Alright, that's Reverend Billy's chop shop here in the Lincoln Square neighborhood, T-B-A-R-N-E-S at W-G-N-T-B dot com. If you have suggestions for the Chicago scene, it's T-Barness at W-G-N-T-B dot com.