As hair grows long for quarantiners, a beloved Seattle barbershop files for bankruptcy

Rudy's, the barbershop that represents for many the essence of the Seattle haircut has filed in Delaware for bankruptcy protection.

Rudy’s Barbershop Holdings LLC is asking for protection from its creditors while it finalizes a quick sale to a private equity firm.

In a filing, the company says it was behind on rent and other bills on March 18, when government orders aimed at mitigating the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of its barbershops.

Rudy's is famous for its comfortable social atmosphere. The business was founded on Capitol Hill in the 1990s grunge era. For many people, it came to represent the essence of the Seattle haircut.

Fantasia Oslund was a customer before she started working there. “It’s just a very low-pressure, low-judgement zone which not every salon is,” she said.

Rudy’s was losing money before the mass shut down of salons and barbershops in mid-March. It told a bankruptcy court in Delaware that it needs a quick sale to a private equity firm.

Oslund says the expectation among the company’s 600 workers is that Rudy’s will be back to cut you, but it might be a smaller company than it was before. Rudy's has 25 locations on both coasts.