Dec. 22, 2015 By Michael Florio
In an ever-changing community, one barbershop is celebrating its 90th year on Broadway.
A barbershop has operated at 25-36 Broadway since the building was constructed in 1926, according to Mark Ribiev, who has worked at the shop – now known as Andrea’s Barber Shop – for 17 years. Andreas Charalambous, 76, has owned the shop since the early 1970s, Ribiev said.
Charalambous, who moved to the U.S. from Cyprus in 1952, is the third owner of this barbershop, according to Ribiev. Before taking over Andrea’s, he owned a barbershop on 82nd Street and Broadway.
In his 45 years as owner, the shop has become a fixture in the community, Ribiev said.
“We have generations of customers,” he said. “We have longtime customers whose grandchildren now come to us for haircuts.”
“We have customers that have moved away from the neighborhood and still come here for a haircut whenever they are in town,” he added.
Ribiev also noted Andrea’s top Yelp ratings for Astoria barber shops.
He said that much of the shop’s success comes from the longtime staff. Despite working there for 17 years, Ribiev is the junior barber of the bunch. His coworker Alex Yadgarov has been there 21 years and Ilya Aminov has been there 23 years. Charalambous has been a barber at the shop since he took it over.
Andrea’s Barber Shop is still deciding how to celebrate the anniversary.
Ribiev said they are considering throwing a party to celebrate the anniversary with loyal customers, but want to wait until the weather gets warmer.
“We do want to put up banners or flags that say ‘Celebrating 90 years,’” he added.
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2 Comments
They never did anything to celebrate.
The only thing they’ve hung up to date is a thin blue line flag, because apparently they support white supremacy.
Broadway Barber Shop is my favorite barbershop.
https://barbershopnearmenow.com/