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Early Morning Barber in Queens: Open at 7 AM on Merrick Blvd

By The Lilacroix barbers · October 26, 2026 · 1,306 words

Most barbershops in Queens open at 9 or 10. If you start work at 8 in Midtown, drop a kid at school at 7:45, or come off a night shift at 6, that schedule means your haircut happens on your day off or not at all. We open at 7 AM on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and at 7:30 AM Monday to Thursday, and the first hour is some of the calmest cutting we do all day.

The direct answer: yes, there is a barber open early in Laurelton, seven days a week, on Merrick Blvd where the Q5, Q86 and Q87 stop and the QM63 and QM65 express buses pick up for Manhattan. Walk in when the door opens or call ahead to check the wait. Below is who the early hour is for, what to get when you are on the clock, and how to get here.

The hours: 7 AM Friday to Sunday, 7:30 AM Monday to Thursday

The doors open at 7:30 AM Monday through Thursday and at 7 AM Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We close at 7 PM every day except Sunday, when we close at 5 PM. That is seven days a week, early, on purpose.

The first hour is the quietest. The chairs are open, the shop is clean, and nobody is waiting behind you with a phone out. By mid morning on a Saturday the room is full of kids and fathers, which is its own kind of good, but if you want in and out, early is the window. Hours and everything else about the shop are on the home page.

Who comes in early

Commuters, shift workers, parents on the school run, and the Saturday early birds who want the whole day ahead of them. Each group has a different reason, and the early hour serves all of them.

The commuter crowd is the biggest on weekdays. Men heading into Midtown or Lower Manhattan on the QM63 or QM65 express bus, which stop at the corner, or walking to the LIRR at Rosedale, come in at 7:30, get a line up or a cut, and are on the bus by 8. A fresh cut before a meeting, a court date or a first day is a different feeling than one squeezed in after work.

Shift workers come from the other direction. Nurses, transit workers, airport staff and the men who work overnight security come in at the end of their day, when every other shop is still closed. For them, 7 AM is the evening. Parents come between drop off and work, or bring the kids before school on a day the school starts late. And on Saturday and Sunday, there is a steady line of men who are in the chair at 7 because they have practice, church, a game or a barbecue later and want to look right for it.

What to get when you are on the clock

When you have a bus to catch, pick the service that fits the time you have. A line up is the quickest thing we do. A full cut with a fade takes longer, and anything with a hot towel or a beard sculpt is a sit down.

If you are in at 7:30 on a weekday with a bus at 8:15, a line up and a shave fit comfortably. If you have the morning, the packages put a cut, a beard trim and a hot towel finish into one chair. Tell the barber what time you need to leave and he will plan the cut around it. The full list is on the services page.

Getting here early: buses and the LIRR

The shop is on Merrick Blvd at the corner of 233rd Street, and that corner is a bus stop. You do not need a car to get here before work.

• Q5, Q86 and Q87 stop at Merrick Boulevard and 233rd Street, right outside.
• QM63 and QM65 express buses to Midtown and Lower Manhattan stop at the same corner, so the cut can come right before the ride in.
• LIRR Rosedale is about twelve minutes on foot.
• LIRR Laurelton is about seventeen minutes on foot.

For drivers and rideshares, directions are on our contact and directions page. For the express bus crowd, the move that works is to plan the morning so the cut happens first and the QM63 or QM65 picks you up at the same corner after. Walk ins are welcome, and being at the door at 7 usually means the chair is open when you walk in.

Walk in or call ahead

Walk in. Early in the morning the chairs are usually open and there is no reason to plan ahead. If you are cutting it close to a bus or a shift, call before you leave the house and ask how long the wait is.

Walk ins are welcome all day, and early in the day the wait is usually the shortest it will be. The calls we get at 7 AM are mostly fathers asking if they can bring a kid in before school and commuters asking whether they can get a fade and still make the 8:15 express. The answer to both is usually yes, and when it is not, we will say so rather than let you miss the bus. The shop takes cash and major credit cards, so the morning does not stall at the register either.

Before school: kids in the early chair

A kids cut before school is one of the better uses of the early hour. The shop is quiet, the kid is not tired yet, and he walks into class with a fresh line. A kids cut is $20 and we are patient with first haircuts and nervous ones.

The timing that works for most families is a cut on a day when school starts late, a half day, or the morning of picture day, three to five days ahead so the fade has settled. On regular days, 7:30 AM to 8 works for schools that start at 8:30 or later. For the cut itself, a low or mid taper on a 2 guard is the one that lasts the two to three weeks between visits, and our post on boys fade haircuts covers the options and what to tell the barber.

Saturday at 7 AM is the other family window. Fathers and sons come in together before practice, and by 9 the room has a line. Early gets both of you cut and out before the day starts.

Open at 7 at Lilacroix Barbers in Laurelton

Be at the door when it opens and the day starts with a fresh cut. Lilacroix Barbers is at 232-12 Merrick Blvd in Laurelton, where the Q5, Q86 and Q87 stop at Merrick Boulevard and 233rd Street and the QM63 and QM65 pick up for Manhattan. We are open Monday to Thursday 7:30 AM to 7 PM, Friday and Saturday 7 AM to 7 PM, and Sunday 7 AM to 5 PM. Walk ins are welcome, or call (718) 749-5800 to check the wait. Everything about the shop is on our home page.

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