Derby Supply Co. evokes 1920s nostalgia with a modern twist.
A large brick building with an almost-secret entrance, an old-school barbershop doubling as a boys’ club, barbers dressed to the nines in button-ups and vests — everything about Derby Supply Co., the barbershop with a full bar opened by Reno native Vinnie Gravallese, screams Old-World charm. Modeled after businesses in Boston and New York that operate half underground out of historic buildings, the shop pays homage to Gravallese’s East Coast roots, without skipping the modern amenities or haircuts.
With the desire to have a space with a big-city feel, Gravallese opened the Derby in 2015 in a wing of Downtown Reno’s old Ross Manor (renamed The Westlyn building) built in 1911 on First Street. The weathered bricks and entrance below street level made it exactly the sort of place Gravallese imagined, similar to his great-grandfather’s barbershop in Boston.
“I spent months and months looking for this location,” he says.
So why a barbershop?
“I come from a long line of master barbers,” Gravallese says.
He adds that his goal was to create a place that looked like those he’d grown up around — high-class yet accessible. “I wanted that old-fashioned feeling.”
Derby Supply Co. is the type of place you can come for a hot towel and straight-razor shave or a glass of high-end whiskey sipped neat or on the rocks. The decision to add a full bar to the ’20s-style, speakeasy-like barbershop came in large part from Gravallese’s own passion for strong drinks. A bit of a whiskey connoisseur himself, he thought it appealing to grab a glass before, after, or even during your cut. Then it expanded to throwback cocktails — think gin and tonic, bourbon and ginger, and slow and low rye. If the bar has the ingredients stocked, the on-staff bartender — often Gravallese’s right-hand man Ralph Belleza — will whip up a Manhattan or other cocktail for you. A rotating lineup of draft cocktails, created by local mixologist Michael C. Moberly, also was added, lending some modern convenience to the lineup; try such on-tap concoctions as an old fashioned with a twist or a tequila Negroni.
Every inch of the shop gives off a 1920s mobster vibe, an aesthetic Gravallese says is a bit Peaky Blinders, thanks to its newsboy caps and nostalgic-style charcoal portraits produced by local artists. In the end, it’s more than a barbershop — it’s an experience. And regulars don’t even need to come in for a cut to enjoy. Many stop in before seeing a movie across the street or grabbing dinner downtown. As Gravallese puts it, the regulars here, “they’re like family (rubs chin), capisce?”
Writer Nora Heston Tarte is a longtime Reno resident. You can follow her local exploits and travel adventures on Instagram @Wanderlust_n_wine.
Derby Supply Co.
123 W. First St., Reno
775-440-1930 • Derbysupplyco.com
