Birds Barbershop cut the ribbon on its 10th Austin-area location Friday, opening a full-service salon and barbershop in the Wolf Ranch area of Georgetown at 1314 W. University Ave., Ste. 105. The shop marks the Austin-owned chain's first location in a neighboring suburb, according to a company news release.
The Austin-born brand has spent nearly two decades building its footprint mostly within city limits, and as reported by Community Impact, Birds now has nine locations in Austin proper alongside the new Georgetown shop. The company provides haircuts, color, and grooming services for men, women, and children, with more details available at birdsbarbershop.com.
Birds Barbershop was founded in 2006 by Laredo natives and childhood friends Michael Portman and Jayson Rapaport, who set out to fill a gap between cheap haircut chains and pricier salons on South Lamar Boulevard, according to Forbes. The pair built a unisex barbershop-salon hybrid steeped in local music and art, a formula that has kept the brand popular enough to be voted Best Barbershop by Austin Chronicle readers for 20 straight years, per Birds Barbershop's own account.
A Suburban Pivot After Years of Staying Close to Home
For most of its history, Birds kept its shops tucked into Austin's urban core, venturing outside Travis County only once before, when it opened in Houston's Heights neighborhood in 2017, Forbes reported. The Georgetown opening is part of a dual suburban push that also includes a new shop at 9900 W. Parmer Lane in North Austin, bringing the company's total footprint to 11 locations across Central Texas, according to Community Impact.
That expansion tracks with where the growth actually is. Georgetown was the fastest-growing city in the country among municipalities of 50,000 or more, expanding 14.4% between July 2021 and July 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2024, the city's population had surged past 101,000 residents, roughly a 51% jump over its 2020 count of 67,000, as reported by MySA, which noted Georgetown was one of only seven U.S. cities to cross the 100,000 mark that year.
Red Poppies and Craft Beer Round Out the Local Touches
Birds has leaned on hyper-local branding at every stop, and Georgetown is no exception. For the new store's interior, the company re-partnered with designer Bryan Keplesky, who created Birds' original South Lamar logo and artwork, to build a custom wall mural featuring red poppies, a nod to Georgetown's official designation as the Red Poppy Capital of Texas, according to Community Impact.
The shop also carries forward a hospitality perk that has defined Birds since it opened: complimentary craft beer for clients 21 and older. The chain partnered with South Austin's St. Elmo Brewing Co. in January 2025 to pour its flagship Carl pilsner across all locations, according to Brewbound.
The Georgetown shop sits inside Bluebonnet Plaza, an 11-acre retail center anchored by Academy Sports + Outdoors and positioned directly across from the 633,000-square-foot Wolf Ranch Town Center, according to Endeavor Real Estate Group. The corridor along West University Avenue sees heavy traffic near Interstate 35 and Highway 29, making it a natural fit for a brand chasing suburban customer density.
Beyond Haircuts, a Broader Business Track Record
Portman and Rapaport's ambitions have stretched well past the barber chair. In 2012, the co-founders launched Verb, an affordable unisex haircare line born after they couldn't find professional-quality salon products priced under $20, according to Forbes. Verb has since grown into a standalone brand carried nationwide at Ulta Beauty, a track record that has helped cement Birds' reputation as more than just a neighborhood shop chain as it now stakes a claim in Georgetown's booming retail landscape.
