Room Six is a collab of four good barber mates
Newcastle City Arcade is where you'll find Room Six, and they're all about good haircuts, good times, and surrounding themselves with other independently owned businesses.
Alex Douglass tells us, “I wanted something a little more eclectic, a little more us.”
Tell me a bit about yourself and the barbers at Room Six?
I grew up in Sydney, and moved to Newcastle as a teenager. I knew after leaving school I didn’t want to just get a job where I worked for “the man” (plus I hated the idea of interviews!) At first I focused most of my time on music, touring with bands as a drummer, and then found myself managing a music store. About 5 years ago I decided it was time for a change. I was cutting my mates hair from home and knew that I enjoyed it. I then decided to get some formal training to become a barber.
The boys here are all the cream of the crop. Christopher Hatch, Ian Sanders, Scott Smith and myself all worked together and worked together at the ‘The Alibi Room’. In that two and a half years we grew a great friendships and I couldn’t imagine working beside anyone else.
You’re now located at the top of the Mall in the City Arcade. Did you have this specific location in mind when you decided to move?
I wanted to find a place that we could make cool... I wanted something a little more eclectic, a little more us.
My partner and I came across the old City Arcade. It’s a building dating back to 1889 and is also the site of the old Newcastle swimming pools. It doesn’t get much better than being located inside a piece of Newy history (with the exception of the 97’ grand final of course).
How does Room Six differ from your previous barber shop?
Room Six has such a good atmosphere. We are back to the place we always wanted to be. Good haircuts, good times. We love that we are surrounded by an amazing amount of great cafes, bars and shops that are all independently owned and run. It's refreshing to be amongst other like-minded people that are all for supporting local talent and business.
We’ve got the good people from Murray’s, supplying a complimentary cold beer as soon as you sit in the Barber chair too! Our Barbers are in a happy, relaxed environment, free to do the best cuts possible, and more importantly knowing that the client is always leaving completely satisfied.
How did you come up with name Room Six?
It was with the help from my girlfriend, Cassie Varley. She came up with the name Room Six when we were throwing ideas around, it wasn’t until we moved in and our address is room 5-7 that we realised it worked perfectly.
To be honest, I don’t have much of an idea in design, styling or how to even hold a hammer when it came to opening the shop. My skills lay with cutting hair. Lucky for me Cassie did. I couldn’t have done it without her.
We worked tirelessly around the clock after Christmas day, to have this place opened within a week. And I'm stoked with what we have achieved.