The Legacy of
The Blue J Barbershop
Established in 1928 by Marvin Jones, the Blue J has strong roots in the neighborhood. It was in operation for nearly 100 years. The barbershop began as a humble two chair barbershop located within the pharmacy that was in this original location. Marvin saw to the day to day operations for nearly 40 of those years. During that time he hired a newly graduated barber named Dave McGee. After returning from his naval service in World War 2, Dave attended and graduated from Moler Barber College in 1950 and started soon after at the Blue J Barber at the suggestion of one of his classmates.
Dave McGee purchased the Blue J from Marvin Jones in 1969. Building upon an already stellar reputation in the city, Dave solidified the Blue J barbershop as a staple of the community. Where community service, strong values, and hard work were an everyday part of the shop, Dave's energy and personality made the Blue J barbershop an exciting place to be. Dave passed away in 2006 and a few short years later in 2009, the shop closed its doors. The building stood empty for a long time, a crumbling reminder of “the last neighborhood.”
16 years later two locals, Jud Richardson (a 4th generation patron of the Blue J and a local coffee shop owner) and Joshua McKeehan (a classically trained barber) decided
the Blue J needed to be revived for another generation of young men and women to grow up and build memories in. The two reopened the Blue J Barbershop in 2025.
This shop is not a chain, a franchise nor owned by a large corporate parent. It is a small independently owned business, and part of the local movement to breathe new life into “the last neighborhood.”
The Blue J Barbers
Joshua McKeehan
Owner/Barber
Steven Henderson
barber
Steven grew up in Virginia but has been in Columbus for a little over ten years and a licensed master barber for 5 years and counting. He enjoys doing classic cuts like pompadours, slick backs, flat tops and fades but also has fun with mullets, mohawks and other rockabilly styles. In his free time he enjoys comics, Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer and tons of other nerdy stuff.
Joshua McKeehan is a native of Alabama, raised in Georgia by two enlisted Army parents. He graduated from William Henry Shaw High school here in Columbus Ga in 2005. In 2009 Joshua followed in his parents military foot steps and joined the United States Marine Corps where he went on to work on Embedded Training teams in Afghanistan and finished his enlistment as a Military Police Dog Handler. In the Marines is where the seed for his future barber career took hold. Any veteran will tell you that getting a haircut on base is not the most pleasant experience.
Joshua left military service in 2014 and attended The Barber School by Tim Hite in Midvale, Utah where he learned classic traditional barbering from two instructors with 100 years of barbering experience between them. After graduating from barber school Joshua worked in a few shops around the Salt Lake Valley before he was approached by former barber classmate John Cook. Josh, John and 4 other former barber classmates opened City Barbers which to this day is the most successful shop in Salt Lake City and the highest rated barber shop on Google. While working at City Barbers, Joshua was able to continue with his education and attended the world famous Olde School Barber Academy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. As well as having one on one training with some of the biggest names in the hair and barber industry. The one Josh holds nearest and dearest to his heart are the three training classes he attended with Farzad Salehi, arguably the best hot towel straight razor shaver in the world and it shows in Joshua's abilities with a razor, hot towel, and warm lather.
After 4 years of working and managing City Barber Joshua packed up and returned back home to Columbus bringing with him a dream and a goal to bring traditional barbering back to his hometown.
Matthew James
apprentice barber
Matthew was born and raised in Columbus and has lived here his entire life. After proudly serving Columbus as a police officer for several years he is now looking forward to starting a new journey. As a Barber Apprentice he hopes to hone his skills and to once again serve his community in a new and exciting way.
Jud Richardson
Owner/not a Barber
Jud Richardson grew up in Columbus, Georgia. He has owned and operated Fountain City Coffee and its roastery counterpart since 2013, though his experience working for the previous owners began in 2005.
Jud first met Joshua as a fellow barista at
Fountain City Coffee 19 years ago. When Joshua returned to Columbus he decided to go visit him at the shop he was working at and got one of the best haircut and shaves of his life. They had been tinkering with the idea of opening a shop together when they found out The Blue J was available the idea to resurrect a Columbus institution became clear.
Every haircut of Jud’s childhood through young adulthood was performed by Dave McGee at The Blue J.
