I moved to Switzerland in 2015. Back in my early days here I lived in small towns & villages and often encountered people staring at me as if they were visiting a zoo because of my South Asian appearance. Despite of my good hygiene and no dreadlocks etc I would often face difficulty getting a haircut as I often got denied with lame reasons - " Sorry we’re busy today… Sorry but we only do it after taking an appointment" etc… I moved to Zurich and even here I would often face that difficulty. Fast fwd 2025 I don’t have to worry about getting a haircut. If one shop denies there are tons of barber shops that have sprung up in Zurich. More so in the last 1-2 years. From Wiedikon to Triemli you’ll find at least 20-25 hair dressers/barber shops. And from Josefstrase to Europalle (back side of the station) there are another 20-25 shops. Was wondering if the city needs so many barber shops or is it something else? Watching a video on Barcelona and mobile phone shops there, I wonder if these barber shops have sprung up to "inject the money into the legal financial system "… Herbs/ White powder money I mean?
You forget to mention the ethnicity of the owners of these barber shops.
In Augsburg, Oberhausen the main street is now Barber shop, Döner shop, muslim bridal shop, muslim barber shop, halal food shop, Barber shop, Döner shop, muslim bridal shop, muslim barber shop, halal food shop, halal food shop, Barber shop, Döner shop, muslim bridal shop, muslim barber shop, halal food shop. Ect.
Each and every larger town or city is the same.
Thing is these barbershops are not allowed to cut hair without a Meister present which non have.
Don’t know exactly who the real owners are, but often the workers are Syrian/Iraqi/ one of those war torn countries/ Poland/ Romania/ Serbia etc…
Show me a place in Zurich where a Polish/Ukrainian barber works. I couldn’t find any, but Polish/Ukrainian/Italian barbers are among the best ones.
I haven’t encountered any Ukrainian barber yet, but certainly Polish, Romanian, Serbian ones. And tons of barbers from Syria, Turkey, Iraq
But regardless of where the workers are from, I would be interested in knowing exactly who the real owners are and what level of margin they make if they were really profiting from haircut business.
Neuchâtel is full of Turkish barbers and kebab shops these days.
For context 21:50 onwards
Some men “need” a haircut every 2 weeks. Seems ridicule to me, but the guys near the train station in the village I live are quite busy.
Before rising the money laundering accusations, consider a couple cultural explanations. In general , society treats low education immigrants like crap. For many, it’s too late or impossible to find training for anything. The only way out is becoming independent, your own boss. There’s no balance sheet behind the entrepreneurship, just trying to get ahead. That’s the motivation.
The second cultural explanation is “the family”. Not the mafia, but that literal families invest in money losing business with the dream of improving their lives. So, those money losing business may be supported by a big family. Is it dumb? Probably. Heck, if they were good at allocating capital they wouldn’t be poor in first place.
Anyway, there might be some money laundering. But, consider stupidity first, money laundering second.
PS, it’s not bienvenidos a Barcelona, it’s benvinguts a Barcelona. Typical ignorant tourist.
On one hand I’m happy that some people are getting employed because of these shops. But it’s more than money laundering. I’m referring to putting the cash (bar geld- generated locally) legally into the system. Tons of families get torn apart because of a drug addict in the family. Would you blame the addict ? The family for giving birth to that addict? Or the system that supplies this poison to the addict?
I dont think that the problem is so much the barber. Muslim bridal shop or halal restaurant or food shop, but more in the ghettoisation of entire quarters.
I still dont have a washing machine in my digs and drive to Augsburg every month to the laundret, 6€’s a machine and 45 minutes, I use the minutes to go to the barbers, or to go to the bakets. been going there for five years now, that street is, I would say, a km long and had one laundrete, two barbers, a bakery, a KFC assorted shops both local and Ausländer owend back when I first started going there. Now the baker has closed, too many asylum seekers just sitting there all day in front of a cup of tea, there are now ten barbers, three bridal shops and at last count four döner, three halal places and two betting shops.
And not one is owened by a local.
Lower educational credentials, poverty… Do you think banks would be willing to provide business loans to these “entrepreneurs”? Rent for these shops is northwards on 3k CHF a month… And most of these shops have at least 3-4 workers (getting paid Swiss minimum wages)
i would agree to this inorganic growth in many areas of zurich, specially the areas that are getting gentrified. I’ve also noted similar growth of south east asian restaurants and grocery stores in many many zurich neighbourhoods.
I also realize that the local commune has responsibility to get them ‘off welfare’.
Personally, I dont think it’s all ‘family’ money or so much of money laundering. Perhaps trade of illiccit substances?
I have often wondered if the city or kanton was involved in financing these operations, at least as a startup for some time.
Of course it’s money laundering.
Every time they actually raid one of these shops. they find work-permit violations.
Which happens rarely enough, unless someone raises a stink and it hits the papers.
They are butcher shops not barber shops.
Personally I am happy that it now possible to get a haircut in Switzerland at a reasonable price and not have to resort to being a hair-cut tourist who only got if cut on trips abroad.
Whataboutist comment: some people are very interested in moving the focus on money laundering away from where the big sums of money are handled.
But the cheapis give shit haircuts. snip snip snip and in 5 minutes finished!
With apologies to Heinlein
TANSTAAFL.
That’s all I need, machine-trim the back and sides with a little off the top with scissors.
So why pay ~50 at Gidor or Toni & Guy when my local Kurdish chap does it for 20 bucks?
Paying 36k of rent/year and minimum salaries is not precisely affluent.
Now, an anecdote. 4 years ago something happened in my village and the next village. At some point there were 3 grocery shops in the same street within 500m. Big signs of halal meat…the invasion!!! Fast forward to today, all 3 shops failed. There’s a VOI-Migros in the largest of the commercial spaces. The other 2 remain empty.
Everyone is free to do whatever they want with their money. A bit of herd behavior and fear of missing out and you see these waves come and go. As long as I’m not trapped by the wave, all good.
There is an un verified but persistent rumour that at least some of these barbershops recieve funds from wahabi or turkish sources if they permit a prayer room on the premisis for the glory of islam.
Every now and then they get shaken down, close for a few weeks then reopen unser a different name.