ROCKIT
He started his apprenticeship at 17 and today Evan Rolton has been in the industry 26 years. Evan began Barbering at the age of 22 when he moved to Australia from New Zealand and has come a long way from the young boy, who at 14 started cutting his mates hair with his grandfather’s clippers. His Barber Shop ROCKIT, is in the heart on Melbourne’s CBD and is now 16 years strong.
EVAN, PLEASE SHARE WITH US THE STORY OF ROCKIT BARBER SHOP. The doors opened in September 2005, grand final eve, before it was a public holiday in Melbourne. We did 8 services that day. We are still in the same shop now, we’ve gone through a couple of slight changes, with additional chairs coming in. We based the shop on a classic 1950’ 60’s era barbershop, Rockabilly hair & lifestyles and the moon race, formed the inspiration behind the name. That’s how we came up with Rockit. Inside the shop we have a very large glass Wunderkammer of vintage coke bottles, old razors, and oiled artifacts of Bakelite and stainless steel, and who is allowed to have a toy room at home? So, the shop became the display room for all childhood toys, from the 80-90’s and memorabilia of all barbering over the years. Culture wise, we have thrived on a very laid-back atmosphere, 90% of our customers work in office jobs, and they like to come in a switch off from reality, have a laugh, talk the talk, and enjoy the sport on tv. Basically, we make it feel like a local hang out, where a CEO can sit down beside a bricklayer and enjoy a beer, chat, and the experience.
TELL US ABOUT THE SUCCESS YOU HAVE ENJOYED OVER THE LAST 16 YEARS. I believe the success we have enjoyed over the last 16 years is listening to what our customers want and delivering that. Ultimately this is why we are here. You can walk in, sit in the chair have a laugh, join in the banter. 95% of our customers are return visits. We are often complimented that that it is almost like time stands still. Even as the years go by, our product remains consistent. We’ve had guys who haven’t been in the country for 10 years come back and there like, “it’s great to come back to something familiar.” We have supported some local charities by doing events where we donate all the takings to charity for the day, we also get into the local cycling community and have sponsored a cycling team in some local community club events, and really, to just be a safe environment for anybody to come in. Some of the charities we have supported are Movember, ovarian cancer, cerebral palsy.
