Major Japanese barber shop chain QB House launched its first outlet in central New York on Thursday to offer its signature no-frills quick haircuts at affordable prices.
It is the first foothold for QB House outside Asia. The chain had 550 shops in Japan and 110 more in other parts of Asia — in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan — as of May.
At the new shop in midtown Manhattan, QB House offers a haircut in only 10 minutes flat for $20 plus tip. The shop has three chairs and started operations with a team of four barbers.
"New York is a busy city where people are always in a hurry. We will try to value their time here with our express cuts at reasonable prices," said Ryoji Furuya, president of QB House USA Inc.
The chain plans to open two more outlets in Manhattan by the end of this year and eventually bring the total number of shops in the United States to around 30.
Customers visiting QB house shops in the year ended in June 2016 came to about 15.96 million in Japan and 2.81 million abroad. The chain aims to double the share of overseas customers to 30 percent in the year ended June 2019.