The Drive In Barbershop on Edmonton’s south side is finding new ways to bring meaning to the saying, “time is money.” The barbershop, owned by Alec Casapao, sits beside Henry Grover’s ATTN Automobile Detailers on Gateway Boulevard. Both share a strong clientele base, with some customers opting to get their car washed or detailed while they wait for a haircut. The partnership is a vision Casapao had back when he owned a shop in Chinatown. “Sometimes we would have 10 clients sitting in the chair, and 10 clients waiting because we were busy. That’s 20 clients with 20 cars parked outside,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday. The idea was to have staff wash cars for added revenue during those waits. He struggled to bring it to fruition, however, because of planning, skill and location logistics. That’s when Grover – incidentally, a client of Casapao’s for 10 years prior – came in. “I was doing car detailing on the north end … We thought it would be a great idea to combine both of our businesses,” Grover said. “A lot of people have hair, a lot of people have cars. I thought it was a great idea.” It’s been three years since both businesses moved to the south side, and while Casapao’s team of hairstylists has grown, he notices that not every Edmontonian is coming to Drive In Barbershop to knock two chores out of the way. It’s instead become somewhat of a symbiotic relationship. “It works because a lot of Drive In’s customers and our customers are loyal to each of us. When we have this partnership together, our clients trust us, and they will trust them, and their clients trust them and also trust us,” Grover said. “It’s kind of like you scratch my back, I scratch your back sort of thing.” Casapao does think some – he estimates one in every 50 customers – are paying for the convenience specifically, however. “They value time. They could easily get their car wash somewhere else, but they’re going to pay to get it both done at the same time,” he said. But while the concept may bring customers through the doors, both owners pride themselves on not being “gimmicky.” “(Customers) care about having a good hair cut. They care about having a good car wash. Being together is just extra,” Casapao said. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
