Barbers · Chicago IL
Booking software for barbershops in Chicago
For 2023 the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns lists 271 employer barber shops in the Chicago metro area, 205 of them small enough to sit in the under-five-employees bracket.
BookAndGo is built for that shape of shop: one calendar for the whole team, a booking page clients can open whenever they like, and email confirmations and reminders on every appointment.
Online booking around the clock
Clients book from your page any time, and the slot comes off your calendar the moment they do.
Email confirmations and reminders
Every booking is confirmed and reminded by email, so fewer clients forget.
Invoices from the booking
Raise an invoice from the appointment, with the sales tax rate you set.
Built for Chicago barbers
Chicago's 271 employer barber shops spread across thirteen counties in two states, at 2.9 per 100,000 residents. About three quarters are under five staff, with 40 in the five-to-nine group and 20 at ten to nineteen, so the Chicago market has a healthy middle tier of shops running several chairs at once. For those shops the hard part is usually coordinating barbers on different days, which is what per-barber hours on a single calendar solve.
The metro behind these numbers spans thirteen counties across Illinois and Indiana, including Cook County, DeKalb County and DuPage County, so it reaches well beyond Chicago. The same data shows 2,935 beauty salons, or about 10.8 per barbershop. Keep in mind that County Business Patterns covers only establishments with paid employees, and plenty of barbers work as one-person businesses. Among the 20 most populous US metros, Chicago ranks 3 by barber shops count.
The largest county counts were Cook County at 161, DuPage County at 35 and Lake County at 24. Cook County alone holds 59 percent of the metro total. By headcount, 205 had under five staff, 40 had five to nine, 20 had ten to nineteen, 6 had twenty to forty-nine. Of the 20 most populous metros, the closest count to Chicago's 271 is Philadelphia's 241.
In Illinois, barbers, barber teachers, barber schools and salon or shop registrations all sit with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).
Frequently asked
How big is the barbershop market around Chicago?
271 employer barber shops in 2023 across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro, per the Census Bureau, 205 of them with fewer than five employees.
Is the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation the licensing body for Chicago barbers?
Yes. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) lists barber, barber teacher, barber school and salon or shop registration among the professions it licenses.
Can I email my regulars about a new service?
Yes. Email campaigns go to your own client list from inside BookAndGo, so you can announce new hours, a new barber or a new service.
Should a Chicago shop set up fades, beard trims and lineups as separate services?
That is up to you. Some shops keep a single Haircut service, others split out fades, beard trims and lineups, each with its own duration.
Take bookings in Chicago from today
Your bookings and client records are stored in the United States.
Prices are in US dollars, plus any applicable sales tax.