Barber Shop

Pappy's starts as a one chair barbershop tucked inside the back of a tattoo shop, with founder Marc "Pappy" Bennett as the only barber behind the chair.

From 2010 to 2012, Pappy did it all himself. As the shop got busier and his young family grew, he hired Pappy's very first barber to work nights and weekends.

With that single chair booked out weeks in advance, Pappy's moved half a mile down El Cajon Boulevard into its first proper barbershop. Five chairs, three barbers to start, and before long eight barbers rotating through those five chairs.

Gehrig, a longtime client who went from customer to apprentice to professional barber inside the shop, partnered with Pappy to open a five chair Pappy's Neighborhood Barber Shop in Poway. Not just a place for barbers to work, but a place to build a career and create opportunities of their own.

COVID forced both shops to close for roughly nine of the next twelve months. Instead of pulling back, Pappy's moved the original College Area shop across the street and built a ten chair barbershop with a dedicated teaching and education space in the back.

After more than a decade behind the chair, Pappy retired from cutting hair. He remains heavily involved in the shops every day, from developing the team to protecting the culture, so every customer still gets the same experience they did when he was the one putting hair on the floor.

Some of Pappy's most experienced barbers wanted room to keep growing without leaving the family. Pappy's Premier Barber Shop opened right next door to the College Area location, a more elevated shop built to advance their careers while remaining part of Pappy's.

What began with one barber, one chair and a small space in the back of a tattoo shop is now three San Diego area barbershops, and a place where barbers can start a career, build a clientele and grow without leaving the company that helped them get there.