Tim “TJ” Jones—owner of TJ’s Chop Shop—wants to make old-style barbershops cool again.
“I think our fathers and everything always had shops to go to like this, but our generation doesn’t,” Jones said.
Jones, 25, tributes the absence of classic barber shops to the new licensing laws in New Jersey.
“In Jersey, you have to have a cosmetology license now,” he said. “It’s not just a barber license, so it discouraged a lot of younger guys to go to hair school to be a barber. They don’t want to do that.”
Jones said in order to become a barber, they used to have apprenticeships where you would work under another barber to gain your license.
“None of that exists anymore in Jersey,” he said. “It worked out for me, because opening a shop here, it’s not like there’s a ton of competition for male barbers in the same type of shop.”
Jones may be young but, he has been in the business for about nine years.
“I always knew I wanted to open a shop, but it happened a lot sooner than I thought it would,” he said.
As a freshman in high school, Jones frequented a young shop owner to get his haircuts.
“He was like 28 years old, and he seemed like he was doing well for himself,” Jones said. “I kind of looked up to him.”
Jones went on to attend Mercer County Community College’s Vocational school in high school to begin training for his profession. Since then, he has worked in several shops in this area, one in New York City and one in Florida.
“I learned a little bit from each owner that I worked with,” Jones said. “I worked in probably eight shops which varied from real high-end salons to real small barbershops.”
Jones took aspects of each of his shops when designing his own. Though TJ’s Chop Shop is far from being a very small barbershop, he only has one other barber on his staff – Mike Waetzman.
“Mike’s just like me; we get along great,” Jones said. “He’s like an older brother.”
With Jones and Waetzman as the only barbers in the shop, Jones said it creates a comfortable feel for his customers.
“In this day and age, where everything’s real commercialized, we have it feel like home in here,” he said. “When guys come in, they know who we are; they know who’s going to cut their hair. It’s either me or Mike.”
Jones said one of his favorite parts about owning a barbershop is getting the chance to meet a lot of different people.
“People really befriend a barber for some reason, and it’s kind of cool,” he said.
One of the old-style barber techniques that Jones uses in his shop is the straight razor shaves.
“It’s a dying art,” he said.
Though Jones is keeping some of the traditions of an old style barbershop alive, he has made sure his shop still stays very modern and has a clean feel to it much like a salon.
TJ’s Chop Shop offers discount cuts for seniors, police, fire and military. The shop is located at 911 Route 33 in Hamilton. For more information, call (609) 931-9304.
TJ’s Chop Shop owner Tim Jones hangs out at his Route 33 business
