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Industry guide · Barbers
How to find barber and barbershop leads in any city
Barbershops are everywhere, loyal to the tools that work for them, and hard to reach by email. Here’s how to find every shop in a city, tell shop owners from booth renters, and get a barber’s attention the way barbers actually do business.
Short answer: Search Google Maps for “barbershop” and “barber” neighborhood by neighborhood, add the shops listed on booking apps such as Booksy and Squire, and fill the gaps from your state barber board’s shop license lookup. Barbers answer the phone and Instagram more than email: 96% of US barbershops list a phone number, but only 37% publish an email. A database such as Retaileads exports every barbershop in a city, with its contact details, in one CSV.
Who sells to barbershops
- booking, POS and payments software;
- barber supply distributors and grooming product brands;
- clipper, chair and equipment makers;
- salon-suite and chair-rental operators looking for tenants;
- marketing, social media and photography services;
- barber schools, continuing education and business insurance.
Barbershops in numbers
| US barbershop listings | 81,345 |
|---|---|
| With a public email address | 30,265 (37%) |
| With a phone number | 96% |
| With a website | 62% |
| Per 100,000 residents | about 24 |
| In a city of 500,000 | about 120, 45 with an email |
| NAICS code | 812111, Barber Shops |
The low website share is the key fact: barbershops live on Instagram and booking apps, so your list-building and your outreach should too.
Where to find every barbershop in a city
1. Google Maps
Search “barbershop”, “barber”, “men’s haircut” and “barber studio” with the city name, neighborhood by neighborhood in large cities, since Google Maps stops listing after a limited number of results per search. Watch for salon-suite buildings: one address with many independent barbers inside.
2. Booking apps
Booksy, Squire, theCut, StyleSeat and Fresha all list shops and barbers by city. They catch barbers who have no website, and whether a shop takes online bookings at all is a qualifying signal in itself.
3. Instagram
Barbers market their work on Instagram. Search city hashtags (such as #austinbarber or #chicagobarbers) and the location tags of busy neighborhoods; bios usually carry a booking link and a phone number.
4. The state barber board
In most states, a barbershop needs a shop license and each barber needs a personal license. The board’s free lookup (for example, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, or California’s Board of Barbering and Cosmetology) lists licensed shops with their addresses, and often the owner’s name and the license issue date. Some states publish their license data as downloadable files.
5. Yelp
Less complete than Google for barbers, but useful for reviews and for spotting older shops that never set up a booking app.
Shop owners, booth renters and suites
Before you build the list, decide who your buyer is, because barbershops run on three different models:
- Commission shops. The owner employs the barbers and buys equipment, products and software for everyone. Sell to the owner.
- Booth-rental shops. Each barber rents a chair and runs their own small business, buying their own clippers, products and booking app. One shop can mean six separate customers.
- Salon suites. Each suite is a private one- or two-chair business inside a shared building. Suites are invisible as “shops” but show up on booking apps and Instagram.
How to reach barbers
- Walk in during a slow hour. Weekday mornings and early afternoons are quietest. Never Saturday, and never the after-work rush. Bring something to leave behind.
- Call. 96% of shops list a number, and the person who answers is often the owner.
- Message on Instagram. Comment on their work first; a cold pitch from a stranger’s account is easy to ignore.
- Email shops that have a website. They’re usually the bigger, more established shops, and more likely to buy software or a marketing service.
Signs a shop needs you
- No online booking. Appointments by phone, text or “DM to book”.
- Cash only, or a card reader that looks a decade old.
- “Chair for rent” ads. The shop has empty chairs to fill: a lead for recruiting, marketing and anything that brings in clients.
- Few reviews compared with shops nearby, or no Google listing at all.
- Newly opened. A recent shop license, “now open” posts, a booking-app profile with no reviews yet.
Barbershops by state
Every shop in the biggest markets: barbershops in California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. Selling to stylists too? See the hair salon list.
Questions and answers
How many barbershops are there in the US?
Retaileads counts 81,345 barbershop listings in the US (November 2026), of which 30,265 publish an email address. That’s about 24 barbershops for every 100,000 residents.
Do barbershops have email addresses?
Only 37% of US barbershops publish an email address, and only 62% have a website, but 96% list a phone number. Many barbers run their business from Instagram and a booking app, so phone calls, Instagram messages and walk-ins often work better than email.
What’s the best way to contact a barber?
Call or stop by during a slow hour (weekday mornings and early afternoons; never Saturday or the after-work rush), or send an Instagram message. Use email for shops that have a website and a published address.
What’s the difference between a barbershop owner and a booth renter?
In a commission shop, the owner employs the barbers and buys the equipment, products and software for everyone. In a booth-rental shop, each barber rents a chair and runs their own business, buying their own tools, products and booking app. Salon suites work the same way: each suite is its own business. Decide whether your buyer is the shop or the individual barber before you build the list.
How do I find new barbershops?
Check recent shop license dates on your state board’s lookup, new listings on Google Maps and booking apps with only a few reviews, “now open” posts on Instagram, and “chair for rent” ads, which show a shop filling empty chairs.
For the general method (sizing a city, finding emails, CAN-SPAM rules), see how to find local business leads in any city. Other industries: dentists and restaurants.