Local Exposures
Cutting out the Middle Man with Forum Barber
Welcome to a new series, Local Exposures, where I’ll be highlighting people doing cool and interesting work in the community of Syracuse, NY. In this first edition, I sat down with Kyle Patchett, Justin Witter, and Hayden Czajak of Forum Barber in Syracuse to discuss haircuts, building a community, Chinese food, and more
It’s a warm afternoon on Memorial Day weekend as I walk up West Fayette Street in Syracuse towards two young men sitting underneath a neon “OPEN” sign. They sit on wooden folding chairs on the sidewalk next to the open door of a barber shop, eating Chinese takeout from the restaurant next door and chatting with people walking by. The sound of hip hop and some mid-haircut conversation float out from inside the shop. The cool and casual energy coming from the shop is welcoming, fun, and light hearted.
This is Forum.
Opened in the summer of 2021 by Kyle Patchett (he’s the one finishing up his lunch on the stoop with shop hand and in house photographer Daniel Heinley), Forum Barber Shop has quickly become a staple within the growing community of businesses filling in the Armory Square area of downtown.
“I just stumbled on this spot, and the price wasn’t bad and it kinda made me realize I could do this…I just decided this is what I was gonna do. The location definitely has something to do with how we got so busy so quickly.”
We head inside to see Justin Witter, who’s been with the shop since the beginning, and Hayden Czajack, the newest member of the Forum crew, as they finish up their last customers of the day.
Patchett and crew have put in a concerted effort to create a welcoming atmosphere. The exposed brick and antique green leather barber chairs give the whole place a classic feel. Works from local artists (many of whom are personal friends) fill the walls, art books litter the coffee table where customers wait for their cuts on either an antique church pew or a large leather couch (the image of which now adorns hoodies and t-shirts the shop sells as merch). It’s a highly curated space, clearly reflected of its occupants’ sense of style, but it feels effortless, unpretentious, organic, and it fits in perfectly with the energy of downtown.
Maybe it’s for this reason that the neighborhood took to Forum. Many of its customers are local to downtown, and are on a first name basis with the guys in the shop. “There was a remarkable amount of people who said that they were just stuck in traffic in front of the shop, looking around, and were like ‘Oh this place looks nice I’ll try that out’,” says Kyle as he gets his haircut by Justin, (they would later switch places, with Kyle cutting Justin’s hair as we talked). “It was totally organic”.
The conversation meanders as the guys nerd out for a while about hair, music, and whatever else comes to mind, but as Kyle and Justin switch places, the subject of community comes back to the forefront.
Beyond cutting hair, Forum has started to become host to events, such as art galleries and a monthly video game tournament. “There’s an organic next step to the barbershop that a lot of shops don’t pay attention to”, Witter muses, “as social media got bigger the barber shop didn’t really change necessarily, you still came here to shoot the shit and talk about what happened locally. Why not push that further, to where community can thrive in the barbershop…let it be a hub. You don’t have to come here to talk about the fact that there’s gonna be a video game tournament somewhere…have the video game tournament where the community is already gathering.”
Once everyone’s hair has been cut, the guys head back outside to sit on the sidewalk and chat before heading out for the day. Justin gets lunch from the same place next-door as Kyle, and he sits with it while they hold court over the block. As expected, multiple friends and customers pass by, all giving a hello or a high five on their way past. The shop, and more importantly the people in it, feel totally at home here. They aren’t just working downtown, they are downtown, they are Syracuse, and they’ve truly created something special with Forum.
I really enjoy looking at your pics...looking forward to seeing what you do next!!! Hugs...Bev