I never like talking to barbers until I started going to the Mug & Brush. All that forced conversation about football or the weather or the wife and kids I don't have reminded me of why I don't like seeing relatives at holidays. Cut my hair. Don't get personal. But Jim is different from most barbers in the same way Columbus is different from most cities. Neither asks too much of you. If you want a quick, impersonal, professional haircut, you can get it here. If you want a haircut, a hot-towel shave, and long, easy conversation about anything that's on your mind, you can get that here, too. Jim is an artisan barber, and not just in the sense of craft. He has the memory of a gravestone. I just came back to visit Columbus and he asked me about things I'd told him more that a year ago. He can network his customers without making it feel like business. Whatever you're doing, Jim knows somebody who can help you do it better. Formally educated in religious studies, he can speak about football as easily as economics and politics and the mechanics of a good shave. He's what a good bartender used to be. Not pushy. Sympathetic. Able to give you whatever you want. Able to be whatever you need him to be. Why Columbus is the perfect place for Jim: despite its reputation as Test Market America, this city appreciates people who do things well, hence the independent bakeries and boutiques and art galleries and artists and writers and poets and musicians and teachers and bar owners and restaurateurs and tattoo artists and tobacconists and cheese mongers and organic landscape architects, all of whom take what they do very seriously without being too serious about themselves. These are highly skilled and educated people who offer the best of what they do, but manage to make it feel like they're just a part of your neighborhood. And they are. Go out and meet them. Like I was, you'll be surprised by how easy they are to talk to, even if you're not in the mood to talk to anybody.
Pros: This is a hub of information and social networking. Excellent service, excellent quality, excellent prices, easy and friendly schedule arrangement, neighborhood feeling.
Cons: Jim doesn't have an army of identical twins to establish franchises around the country
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