Kingsford Ameyaw opened A-Class Barbers on Energy Park Drive this summer. (Park Bugle photo by Kyle Mianulli)
Cutting hair is a passion that has followed Kingsford Ameyaw his whole life.
From his childhood in Ghana to his new barber shop, A- Class Barbers, at 2233 Energy Park Drive in St. Anthony Park, he has taken pride in making customers look their best.
He sets a good standard for his customers, too. His chic appearance includes pressed slacks paired with a bright button-down. The look, of course, is completed by his clean-cut hairstyle.
Business might not be booming just yet for Ameyaw and his partner, barber Harvey Windom, but they’re not worried. On a Friday afternoon, both of their chairs are occupied. Two more customers lend to the lively barbershop banter that fills the spacious, well-lit shop, while they wait.
“Not too good, not too bad,” Ameyaw says of business. “We haven’t really built up yet, but we have started seeing new faces.”
Along with those new faces are some faithful regulars that come a good distance to get a cut from Ameyaw at his new location. He says he sometimes has customers come from as far away as Mankato and Red Wing. That may seem like any awfully long way to come for a haircut, but it might not always be only about the cut.
“Being an expert barber is not the only thing that makes you a good barber,” Ameyaw says. “It’s people skills. You get to know people and people get to know you. It’s kind of an interesting profession.”
Ameyaw moved to the U.S. from Ghana in 1997 to pursue this profession. He took classes at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College Beauty School and got his instructor’s certification in 2011 from a barber school in New Brighton. He now lives in Shoreview with his wife and four children.
A-Class Barbers is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Ameyaw specializes in cutting all types of hair. A regular cut is $15, $10 for kids and $12 for seniors.
Kyle Mianulli is a freelance journalist in the Twin Cities and the communications coordinator at District 12.
