Mixing Hair and Music with Jeff Gimenez

At Fresh Produce, 2025 was the year of “Ideas Need Colonies”—a Mystic Truth that celebrates the people in our community who delight in creativity and make room for others to do the same. One such person is Jeff Gimenez.

Jeff owns HI-FI Hair, a hair and nail salon that doubles as an art gallery and vintage record repository. HI-FI sits in the front right corner of Nordic Hall, a squat, unassuming office building on the edge of downtown. But those familiar with Nordic Hall know its creative history is nothing short of electric. In the ’90s, the basement of Nordic Hall became the epicenter of the city’s underground punk scene, a movement captured in Brian Bieber’s documentary I Really Get Into It.

After lying dormant for more than two decades, Nordic Hall found new energy when Jeff opened HI-FI in 2021. What followed was a colony of its own—a space brimming with artists, studios, and small businesses of all kinds. Jeff himself is a blend of creative interests, something that’s apparent the moment you step through HI-FI’s door.

Over the years, Jeff has become the unofficial stylist of Fresh Produce. He’s cut a lot of our hair, and he even gave Mike his stylish new coif. But beyond Jeff’s scissor skills, we just love hanging out with him—hearing his unique perspective on creativity and soaking up his one-of-a-kind space.

With that in mind, we wanted to ask Jeff a few questions about his history as a hairstylist, what inspires him, and how he’s seen Nordic Hall return to its roots.

When did you move to Sioux Falls? What did you do before opening HI-FI?

JG: We moved here in 2019. My wife grew up here, so it was a great move to be close to family. For the first year we lived in Sioux Falls, I traveled back to San Francisco every six weeks and would do about 65 haircuts in five days. When COVID hit, I was forced to stop going because cutting hair in California was illegal. I began painting apartments for a friend’s home improvement company. I also worked at a small salon downtown part-time, but I had a hard time getting clients until I opened HI-FI Hair.

How long have you been DJing?

JG: I’ve been DJing for 30 years, so music is a huge part of HI-FI. We do small shows here where we partner with Rose + Eugene. We even have a beer and wine license, so we can offer beverages.

(You can find some of Jeff’s DJ samples on HI-FI’s music page, as well as links to a few HI-FI playlists.)

What are your musical inspirations?

JG: I’m inspired by everything—jazz, soul, funk. I love blending the old with the new to create something completely novel. My whole record collection is here behind the DJ booth. But a lot of these records I can’t play here. They’re reserved for nightclub shows.

Do you have go-to records you like to spin?

JG: Go-tos? That’s a loaded question, haha. I can’t really answer that. Different times of day and different spaces have different moods. The mood is what inspires the music.

Tell us about your art vending machine.

JG: We keep [Mini Mart] in the hallway now. It originally came from the Edison Middle School teacher’s lounge. I got it off Facebook Marketplace from a woman who was just storing it in her basement. We transformed it into a vending machine with patches and small pieces of art. But of course, we have a switch comb in there as well.