For nearly 80 years, Atlanta Barber & Beauty Supply has been serving the professional barber industry, building relationships with barbers, barber shops and businesses along the way. Now, the longtime distributor is entering a new chapter. Jinny Beauty has acquired ABBS, including its building, and will move the business forward as ABBS Powered by Barber United.
Barber United is Jinny Beauty’s barber-focused program, created to connect professional barbers with the products, brands and resources they need. The program is built around meeting barbers where they work, including through its “We Come to You” distribution model.
The acquisition brings two things together: the experience and relationships ABBS has built over decades and Jinny’s vision, through Barber United, to create new ways to serve today’s barber. As part of the transition, ABBS owner Russell Garner will remain involved for the next several months, helping Jinny and the existing ABBS team make the transition as smooth as possible.
With the grand opening of Barber United, which took place on October 11th, this is more than a new name. It marks the beginning of a new chapter in how Jinny plans to connect with and support the professional barber community.
We spoke with Eddie Jhin, President of Jinny Corp. about Jinny’s vision for ABBS and Barber United, what this acquisition means for the barber industry, and where the company hopes to go next. We also connected with Russell Garner about the history of ABBS, his decision to pass the business into new hands, and the legacy he hopes to leave behind.
What made Jinny Beauty decide that ABBS was the right company to acquire, and what did you see in the business that made the opportunity stand out?
I have always respected ABBS and had a long time relationship with former Mr. Hilley and had much respect towards him and also Russell Garner who has been in charge for over 20 years now. I knew that ABBS is a very well recognized name in the barber industry for many many decades.
ABBS has nearly 80 years of history and is considered the oldest barber distributor in the country. What does it mean to Jinny to become part of that history?
This means so much for Jinny and myself to be part of their history and this is why I have decided to purchase the entire company including the building itself and the entire staff members and we will not change anything about ABBS. We will only enhance their growth as much as we can by learning from its people who have worked for ABBS for many years.
How will Russell Garner be involved during the transition, and why was his continued involvement important to making this transition successful?
To me, Jinny and myself need to learn about the barber industry as much as possible and the sooner the better for all of us. Russell brings well over 30 plus years of knowledge and expertise in the barber industry and we can learn so much from him. Not only his knowledge but he is a true gentleman and I have nothing but good thoughts when it comes to Russell.
What does the name "ABBS Powered by Barber United" mean, and how do you see the two businesses working together?
ABBS Powered by Barber United means that ABBS will be a separate company functioning as it has for the past 80 years but now being Powered by Barber United means that now with Jinny backing Barber United 100%, ABBS will have all the necessary tools such as financial, technology, purchasing power, marketing and advertising resources, human resources, and all the assets that Jinny has under its umbrella will be shared with ABBS now. Now ABBS will be able to do what they may have not been able to do in the past to grow their current business bigger than ever before. I will be searching for more good distributors like ABBS to purchase down the road so that we can do the exact same thing that we are doing with ABBS.
Now, the longtime distributor is entering a new chapter. Jinny Beauty has acquired ABBS, including its building, and will move the business forward as ABBS Powered by Barber United.
Barber United currently includes many vendors and you recently added 61 new vendors. What are you hearing from barbers about the products, tools and resources they need most?
We have many vendors and have added 61 new vendors for Barber United and ABBS that we have not been their distributor in the past and I am sure, as time goes on, we will add more vendors for the barber industry. At the moment, we are trying to learn as much as possible from these vendors and for the most part many vendors are being very supportive in teaching us about their products.
Why was the "We Come to You" model important to Barber United, and how do you think bringing products directly to barber shops changes the relationship between the distributor and the barber?
As far as what Jinny has done with our OTC stores, I think Jinny has the best educated sales force in the world by far compared to our competitors and it's because we spend money and time training our people in sales, accounting, warehouse, graphics, buyers and so on. In this new industry for Jinny, I want to make a big impact on bringing out a new concept of having a distributor have its own trucks with our own people who will service the barbers the way we want and treat them with great promotions, prices and maximum selection of inventories and be able to hand deliver to the barbers.
Why do you think there has traditionally been a gap between professional barbers and the OTC beauty supply industry?
In my opinion, the OTC store owners and managers do not have enough selection of inventory that the barber is seeking and that is the biggest problem. Secondly, the items that the barbers are seeking tend to be a little more costly so the placement of these items are not good for barbers to “touch and feel.” The third factor is that there are more than 250 barber distributors in America currently so the barbers have access to these distributors rather very easily.
Lastly, there is also a broader issue of comfort and perception that should not be overlooked. For some African American male barbers, the traditional OTC shopping environment may not always feel like a place where they feel comfortable or understood. At the same time, retailers may not always know how to effectively serve this customer. That gap in comfort and understanding can create tension and discourage barbers from making OTC stores part of their regular shopping routine.
The vision seems to go beyond selling products. How could Barber United eventually support barbers with education, business resources, networking or other tools to help them grow?
Yes, the grand vision is not just selling products to barbers. I want to build our own Barber United schools in all the cities that Jinny is currently stationed in: Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New Jersey. I want to educate them not just in cutting hair but also in business as well. There are many subjects that our school will teach such as taxes, leases, looking for the right location, how to budget, how to retail, how to manage your people, legal issues, insurance and so on.
I want to help the barbers from the very beginning by becoming a Barber United Financing Agency when they are ready to open up their own barber shops. So, there are just many opportunities that we will be doing than just selling products.
The grand opening for Barber United took place recently and included up to $50,000 in giveaways. Why was it important for Jinny to make the launch such a major event for the barber community?
Yes, we are making this event to be grand but Jinny has done such grand openings in the past so we are just doing what we normally do for our newest company Barber United.
When you look five years ahead, what do you hope Barber United will have become for professional barbers?
My goal in five years from now until October of 2031, Barber United will be the top and the best distributor of the barber industry in America.
By that time, all of the barbers will know our company. We will have more than 300 plus own Barber United trucks on the road nationwide and we will have at least six to ten Barber United distribution centers nationwide. At one time, Jinny had 13 locations nationwide and had 20 trucks and 60 plus company vehicles for our sales people. My staff members who were here to open and close Jinny locations know that I am not blowing smoke and they know I mean this 100%. We will have two championship belts at that time and we will still be the number one distributor of the ethnic and multi-cultural industry and now we will be the champion of the barber industry. I will be seeking another belt in 2031…
