Top Ukrainian Award 2023: Lumberjack — Barbershop Chain of the Year in Kyiv
The first Vybir Krainy award: in 2023 the analytical centre recognised Lumberjack as the Barbershop Chain of the Year in Kyiv. We look back at what this win meant for a young chain and how it started a run.
The first Vybir Krainy award: in 2023 the analytical centre recognised Lumberjack as the Barbershop Chain of the Year in Kyiv. We look back at what this win meant for a young chain and how it started a run.
Lumberjack — Top Ukrainian Award 2023: the first award
for the Barbershop Chain of the Year in Kyiv.
We will remember August 2023 for a long time: the Vybir Krainy (“Country’s Choice”) analytical centre recognised Lumberjack Barberhouse for the first time in the nomination “Barbershop Chain of the Year in Kyiv”. For the team it was our first win in this rating.
The official name of the rating is the “Ranking of the best goods and services · Ukraine”. Getting into it means being assessed not by yourself but by analysts who look at the market from the outside.
By then Lumberjack had been working for almost seven years: since 2016, when the first shop opened its doors in Podil, the chain had spread to different parts of Kyiv. Yet until then only our guests had judged our level — now an outside view was added to theirs.
That is why the award felt not like a finish line but like a signal: the course was right, and we could keep moving.
The Vybir Krainy analytical centre works with its proprietary “Consumer Preferences” methodology. Its essence is an analysis of the main criteria that shape consumer choice: what makes a person pick one company among many similar ones.
This approach is close to our hearts. A barbershop lives on a guest’s trust: the first time a person comes on a recommendation, the second time because they liked it. A methodology that sees exactly this feels more honest to us than any advertising contest.
For the barbers the news meant something simple: what they do every day had been noticed beyond the walls of the shop. Not one lucky haircut, but the habit of doing every one well.
The road to it looked like this: 2016 — Podil; 2017 — Pechersk, Pozniaky and Obolon; 2018 — Rusanivka, Osokorky and Teremky; 2019 — Vynohradar; 2021 — Troieshchyna. Each new shop took on the rules of the ones before it.
The 2023 medal became the first in our collection. Today it sits on the website next to the awards of the following years — and each of them grew out of that first one.
We did not invent anything radically new after it. Something else changed: what used to rest on the habits of experienced barbers we began to put into words as rules and pass on to every newcomer.
Thank you to the guests who chose Lumberjack when far fewer people knew about us than today. This award is first and foremost yours.
What did it mean to receive an assessment like this for the first time? Deciding every day which rules would be shared by everyone: how a barber gets to know a guest, how they discuss the shape of the cut, how they prepare the workstation for the next booking.
We chose simple things a guest feels at once: a consultation before the work, precision in the details, clean tools and open prices. None of them looks heroic, but together they create the impression people come back for.
Such small things are what shape consumer choice. People rarely explain why they pick a particular barbershop, but they always remember whether they were listened to, seen on time and happy with their reflection in the mirror.
One more rule concerns the guest’s time. Online booking, a fixed slot in the schedule, no walk-in queue on top of booked guests: a person arrives at their time and goes straight to the chair.
The first year, the first medal —
where the story of Lumberjack’s awards began.
The 2023 win gave the team a sense that its efforts were visible beyond the chain. The barbers got confirmation that their daily work is part of something bigger than a single entry in the booking log.
It also set the bar. From then on, every new barber and every new guest was to meet the level that independent analysts had already recognised once.
Were we thinking about a run back then? Honestly, no. We simply kept working with the same care. The result is visible now: the award was confirmed in 2024 and 2025, and in 2026 for the fourth time.
So for us 2023 is not just a line in an archive of awards. It is the year it became clear that our approach to men’s haircuts and service is recognised and valued.
Facts
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2023 yearThe first Vybir Krainy award.
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1st medalThe start of our awards collection.
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20.08 2023Award date.
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Kyiv nominationBarbershop Chain of the Year.
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2016 PodilThe first shop, where it all began.
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4 years runningThe 2023–2026 run.
Top Ukrainian Award 2023 a first step, not the summit
A first award can easily become a reason to stop. We decided the opposite: we took it as an advance that had to be earned in the following year and every day in between.
So everything guests noticed in 2023 we fixed as a rule: an attentive consultation, careful work with details, a clear price list and punctuality. That way it reaches every new barber instead of remaining the habit of a few experienced ones.
Want to feel where it all began? Choose a convenient shop — in Podil, where the first Lumberjack opened, or closer to home — book a barber online and see for yourself that the 2023 bar has not gone anywhere.
The 2023 medal, nomination and award date, along with answers to frequently asked questions about the award, are on its page.
Barbershop Gallery for the article
Podil: where it all began
The first Lumberjack opened its doors in 2016 in Podil, opposite Zhytnii Market. The habits that Vybir Krainy analysts later recognised across the whole chain were born here.
- 15 Nyzhnii Val St.
- A few minutes’ walk from Kontraktova Square.
- Wood, brick and shelves of grooming products.
- The chain’s oldest shop and the first barbershop in the area.
Pozniaky: the left bank
Lumberjack has been in Pozniaky since 2017. A bright shop on the second floor near the metro — with a separate sterilisation room where tools are prepared for every guest.
- 7A Oleksandra Mishuhy St.
- A few minutes from the metro, with parking nearby.
- A short brief before the cut: shape, daily routine, dress code.
- Before-and-after photos on request, so the result is easy to repeat.
Teremky: where people bring their friends
The Teremky shop has been open since 2018. Guests are known by name here, and senior barbers mentor the younger ones — which is why the quality does not depend on the day of the week.
- 48 Yulii Zdanovskoi St.
- Next to Teremky metro, with easy access from the main roads.
- Senior barbers working alongside junior ones.
- A bill with no hidden extras.
Soloma: the youngest shop
The shop in Solomianka opened in 2024, after the first medal. It received the rules formed before 2023 ready-made — from its very first working day.
- 44 Povitrianykh Syl Ave., third floor.
- A proper hall, not a room off a corridor.
- Space between the chairs — no one else’s conversations in your ear.
- Coffee and water for guests while the barber prepares the station.
Most frequent questions
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What is the Top Ukrainian Award 2023 and who gave it to Lumberjack?
Vybir Krainy (“Country’s Choice”) is a rating officially called the “Ranking of the best goods and services · Ukraine”, compiled by an analytical centre of the same name. Lumberjack Barberhouse first entered it in 2023 — as the capital’s barbershop chain of the year.
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Why does the first award, in 2023, matter so much to the chain?
Because it was the first outside assessment of our work rather than a self-assessment. The rating relies on the proprietary “Consumer Preferences” methodology — an analysis of the main criteria that shape consumer choice. Making it in meant that guests were choosing us deliberately.
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What did the first award change for the barbershop’s guests?
It became the starting point. Every year since, we have measured ourselves against the 2023 bar: the award was confirmed in 2024 and 2025, and in 2026 for the fourth time. For a guest it means a predictable level of haircut and service, whichever barber in the chain they book with.
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How to choose the best barbershop in Kyiv?
Review portfolio, ratings, barbers’ experience, hygiene protocols, and transparent pricing. A proper consultation and clear communication are key.
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What services does a modern barbershop usually offer?
Men’s haircuts, beard shaping and shaving, gray blending, facial and scalp care, plus home-care recommendations.
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How to book and understand barbershop pricing?
Book online or by phone; current prices and durations are listed on service pages. Choose a barber by style and experience.
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