Turkish barber sparks delight with his return

The timing couldn’t have been worse when Turkish barber Cem Kokuc launched his business in Jedburgh – one week before lockdown.
Cem Kokuc oustide his new Turkish Barber shop, CousinZ in Jedburgh's High StreetCem Kokuc oustide his new Turkish Barber shop, CousinZ in Jedburgh's High Street
Cem Kokuc oustide his new Turkish Barber shop, CousinZ in Jedburgh's High Street

After months of planning, Cem was left to twiddle his thumbs as the country went into lockdown in March and he was forced to close his new business, CousinZ.

Luckily, he’d already garnered a loyal clientèle in his short time operating from his outlet at 14 High Street.

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Now he has reopened the premises, initially on an appointments-only basis, but also now accepting walk-ins when appropriate. Cem said the response since welcoming back customers had been entirely positive.

He said: “We opened one week before lockdown, which was unfortunate timing.

“After we reopened we have been quite busy, we are doing very well and the customers are very happy.

“We are mainly taking appointments at the moment, but after a week we have had walk-ins.

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“We reopened on Wednesday, July 15, and it was fully booked that week. It was an easy for us because the customers were really grateful to at last have a haircut after all this time. After lockdown most just let their hair grow and on the first day back it was non-stop until 7pm.”

Cem passed on his thanks for the guidance and advice he has received from the owners of another Turkish barbers in the Borders, World Class Turkish Barbers, which has operated in Oliver Crescent for the past three years and which also recently reopened.

He added: “We ask customers to sanitise their hands when they arrive and when they leave.

“The sanitisers in the premises are disinfected after each client.

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“For the time being we are not providing refreshments and magazines as we did before, just for purely safety reasons. There have been changes, but it has been a relief to get the business up and running and our customers seem happy that we’re back.”

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