Hipster beards are here to stay: Independent grooming salons triumph on high street
If you're already sick of the hipster beard trend, we have bad news for you.
Increased attention to beards and eyebrows is here to stay, as 11 independent personal grooming salons opened each week over the last year.
There was a net increase of 626 barbers and beauty salons last year, up 10.36 per cent from 2014, according to figures from the Royal Mail's Address Management Unit (AMU).
This was the biggest net increase of all independent shops last year.
Read more: Hairy hipsters drive down sales of male grooming products
Trevor Studd from the British Barbers' Association said:
The rise in personal grooming does not come as a surprise at all – some high streets have ten or more barbershops and men’s grooming operations now. There has definitely been a growing migration of men going back to barbershops from unisex salons in the past three to four years and this doesn't seem to be slowing down.
Like any industry that has a renewed spike in numbers, supply will grow to meet demand. However in such a personal industry, skill, and the level of service offered will determine how many of those shops will still be open in two years’ time.
If you're a fan of the latest organic, soya-ccino frappe coffee latte, good news: hipster coffee is also probably here to stay.
Read more: Smooth move: Unilever hopes to sharpen its business with Dollar Shave Club
The UK welcomed 337 new cafes and independent tea rooms last year, just shy of one a day, though this was an increase of only 2.4 per cent on 2014.
Tobacconists were the real winners though. With the rise in vaping and e-cigarettes, the number of tobacconists increased by 334 units last year, though this was a whopping 54.4 per cent increase on the year before.
As a result of these increases, the typical high street now contains an average of 11 independent cafes, seven independent barbers, four independent beauty salons and one independent vape shop.