The jokes started almost as soon as Adam Combs settled into the barber chair at Classics Barber Shop.
Kodie Coblentz, who has cut Combs’ hair for about eight years, pointed out the increasing amount of gray. Combs said he regularly lies about having gray hair, but his barber never goes along with the lie.
“I always lie about it, but he never fixes it,” Combs said, adding that Coblentz ought to keep some spray paint or shoe polish nearby to black it out.
The exchange was characteristic of Classics, where haircuts come with conversation, teasing and relationships that often stretch back years.
“We’re a social club that does haircuts,” partner in the business Alex Padilla said.
Classics reopened in Montrose last summer at 905 S. Townsend Ave., bringing back a barbershop that once drew crowds to its former downtown location on South Cascade Avenue.
The new shop occupies a building with its own barbershop history. Jack the Clipper previously operated there, along with other barbers over the years. The space later sat vacant for about five years, Coblentz said.
Coblentz had been offered the building before, but the timing wasn’t right. When he and Padilla began discussing a return to Montrose, a friend reminded him of the property.
Coblentz said a friend, who owns the vape-and-skate shop next door, had previously offered him the space. The timing was not right then, but the building came to mind again when Coblentz and Padilla began discussing a return to Montrose.
“I had completely forgotten about this until a friend of ours was like, ‘Why don’t you just hit up Jason?’” Coblentz said. “And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah.’”
Because the space had housed Jack the Clipper and other barbers before sitting vacant for about five years, it was already set up for the kind of shop Coblentz and Padilla wanted to revive.
“I had completely forgotten about this until a friend of ours was like, ‘Why don’t you just hit up Jason?’” Coblentz said. “And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah.’”
The space was already set up for barbers, making it a natural home for a revived Classics.
The original shop had developed a loyal following downtown. It was busy enough that walk-in customers could sometimes expect to wait an hour.
But Coblentz moved to Gunnison about three years ago, and Classics was sold and eventually closed for roughly a year and a half. Padilla stayed in Montrose and continued cutting men’s hair at Superior Cuts.
Even after the downtown shop closed, some longtime customers continued making the drive to Gunnison to see Coblentz. He estimated that five to 10 people — often about six — traveled from the Montrose area each week for appointments.
Eventually, the steady stream of familiar faces helped convince him there was still a place for Classics in Montrose.
“I had a bunch of people showing up anyways, and Alex wanted to go back to work in a barbershop,” Coblentz said. “So we just opened, and then I come down once a week.”
Padilla now handles the shop’s regular operations in Montrose. He is typically there from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
Coblentz returns each Thursday, working by appointment. His Montrose days can begin as early as 7:30 a.m. and continue until about 7 p.m., with appointments scheduled back to back.
The arrangement allows Coblentz to continue working with his father at KC Barber in Gunnison while reconnecting with customers who could not regularly make the trip there.
“I love being back here,” Coblentz said. “I’d love to be here more often. It’s just kind of dealing with kids’ schedules and everything that makes that hard.”
For Padilla, reopening Classics meant returning to the environment he missed after the original shop closed.
He continued cutting men’s hair in a salon, but he said the atmosphere was different. A traditional barbershop allows customers to relax, joke around and briefly step away from the rest of their day.
“Here we can hang out,” Padilla said. “Guys can come hang out, get away from reality for a little bit.”
Coblentz and Padilla describe the shop as traditional but not old-fashioned. They offer familiar barbershop services while keeping up with modern styles and requests.
“Traditional barbers with a modern twist,” Padilla said.
That includes knowing what customers mean when they request details such as a hard part rather than looking at them with confusion, one customer said.
The larger goal, however, is consistency. Coblentz said customers should expect the same quality haircut each time they sit in the chair — along with a little good-natured harassment.
“It’s the same traditional barbershop that we’ve always had,” Coblentz said. “You’re going to get the same quality haircut every time you come in, and we’re going to give you a hard time.”
Padilla said he and Coblentz take pride in their work, but the relationships built around the chairs are just as important. They do not want customers to feel as though they are being rushed through a transaction.
“We tend and prefer to have a relationship built with our clients,” Padilla said. “Not just come in, get your haircut and leave. We want to be involved.”
Some of those relationships now span much of a customer’s life. During the interview, Combs’ pointed to his 8-year-old son whose hair had never been cut by anyone else.
Combs has also remained loyal through the changes. He first began coming to Coblentz about eight years ago, when Coblentz was still working as an intern.
Asked why he continued choosing Classics, Combs had a straightforward answer.
“It’s the best haircut you’re going to get in town,” he said.
The reopened shop is smaller and operates differently from the downtown version. Padilla is its regular presence, while Coblentz makes the trip from Gunnison once a week. The days of customers lining up at the door have been replaced, at least on Thursdays, by a tightly booked appointment schedule.
But Coblentz said the arrangement gives him a way to maintain his connections in Montrose while raising his children in Gunnison. Padilla, meanwhile, is again working in the kind of shop where he feels at home.
For customers who remember Classics from downtown, the address and schedule may have changed. The haircuts, conversation and steady supply of insults have not.
It is, as Padilla put it, a social club that does haircuts.
Justin Tubbs is the Montrose Business Times editor. He can be reached by email at justin@montrosebusinesstimes.com or by phone at 970-765-0915 or mobile at 254-246-2260.
