ICYMI: North Merrick Barber Shop Bounces Back From Damage

NORTH MERRICK, NY — Michael Ilvayev was cutting away with his shears inside his boarded-up North Merrick barber shop with an electric heater to keep him and clients warm on Friday.

It's like he never skipped a beat when a car crashed into his storefront two days earlier. He's been busy with pretty steady business and many people from the community keep on walking in the shop to see if everything is okay.

"Everything is good," said Ilvayev, a Queens resident who has owned Michael's Barber Shop for about 2o years, during a short break from giving a hair cut. "Nobody was hurt; that is the main thing."

At about 3 p.m. on Wednesday, a car struck the shop, but the driver did not stop and instead, drove away on Jerusalem Avenue, Nassau County police said. Detectives are continuing to investigate.Luckily, two barbers narrowly missed being hit by the car because it was a slow day, and they were actually in the back of the business playing checkers, said Ilvayev's son, Joe.

In the hours that followed the crash on Wednesday, clients and members of the North Merrick community reached out to the Ilvayev family with messages and phone calls to offering their support. They have also been dropping by telling Michael that they want their hair cut, said Joe Ilvayev.

Ilvayev, a resident of Queens, has owned the shop for about 20 years and is very well-known in the community.

"The support from the community is outstanding," he said.

The businesses on Jerusalem Avenue are part of a tight-nit community and many workers ran outside when they heard the sound of the crash, according to Joe Ilvayev. Some attempted to take down the car's license plate but were unsuccessful, and passersby, who were shopping, stopped in to the shop to see if everyone was okay, he said.

Dominick Farese, the owner of My Hero delicatessen, said he was off on Wednesday, though he heard about the crash later on in the night, and stopped by the next day. "I just stopped by to see if everyone was alright," said Farese, who has known Michael for about 20 years.

Part of the storefront's facade and a glass window, as well as a radiator underneath along the bottom of the wall, were damaged by the car. Later, workers sifted through the rubble of glass, pieces of wood and drywall that were strewn on the floor to board up the window casings and secure the business from the elements, Joe Ilvayev said.

The shop will remain open while the Ilvayev family is still waiting to have new windows installed on the facade and the baseboard heating repaired, he said, adding, "From the outside it does not look like it did much damage, but from the inside, it's much worse."