We are in an age of McDonaldization where Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Best Buy, franchise restaurants, and many other forms of conglomerate dominate the economic landscape. Competition is limited to only those that have the cash flow firepower to compete in a global economy where those who are able to wager war are quickly being eliminated all in the name of good clean capitalism, and I hate it.
This financial Darwinism is said to give the consumer higher quality, better selection, and lower prices. Two out of three may be true, but at what cost? Jobs have been outsourced; natural resources have been squandered due to excess shipping; and our highways and byways have become one huge series of nondescript strip malls. Ugh!
Gone are the neighborhood pharmacies replaced with either a CVS or a Walgreen’s or both. Here in Florida there seems to be one (or both) at every traffic light. Or wait, there are.
Gas stations have become passe unless they include a mini-mart or fast food establishment (there’s that word again). I don’t know about you, but “Let’s do lunch at the nearest Citgo” doesn’t have that enticing appeal.
There are exceptions to this rule of the day. As restaurants go Sammy’s Cider in Chester, New Jersey, Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa, and Cap’s Place in Lighthouse Point also in Florida (unless there’s another Tampa I am unaware of), are shining examples of less is more. Ownership sees no need to open another. They are happy with their profit margin. Perhaps you too have a favorite dining establishment that’s established itself in the single establishment category. (I like that sentence no matter how bad it reads).
There is one industry that seems to have insulated itself in this one size fits all world. Hair stylists are thriving. Sure you have Hair Cuttery and Supercuts, but if you look in the phone book, they are greatly outnumbered. This makes me happy.
There’s a distinct evolution during my lifetime of those who cut hair. My grandmother went to a salon, Joe and John’s to be precise. Every Thursday my grandmother went for a wash, blue rinse, and set. This was a tradition she kept up long after she moved out of Springfield to Chester, New Jersey.
As a kid in Springfield, Red the barber cut my hair, and my father’s, and my grandfathers. My father and grandfather had been going to Red well for many years prior to my birth. When we all moved to Chester, we all went to Charlie Treadway the Barber or as he was affectionately known; Charlie the Butcher. It is my belief Charlie became a barber out of necessity. Since Charlie was the only game in town, I believe the town father’s may have anointed him “barber” because no one else volunteered.
In my sophomore year of high school all that changed. Frank Anthony’s Salon opened in Chester’s lone “professional” building.
No one (males) went to a “salon” at that time. Your masculinity was questioned if you chose to have your hair “styled,” a relatively new concept for men. When Bob Walther who had great hair, showed up at school newly coiffed, I decided to give Frank Anthony’s a try. Thus began a relationship that transcended business that lasted for over twenty years.
Soon after I moved to Florida in 1993, Tony had a hair show at the legendary Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami. Tony insisted I come down for dinner and a hair cut. He paid for dinner, and the cut was gratis. He’s one of the finest and nicest men I’ve ever met. After that haircut, I had to endure the anxiety of finding someone new to cut my and my son’s hair.
After a short stint at a local sole proprietorship recommended to me by Cory’s baseball coach, short hair made a comeback, and while the cuts were adequate, the price for them was not, so off to find someone else to get the job done.
Fades had become all the rage popularized by the rap and hip-hop movement. So when a black owned barbershop opened down the street from our home, we decided to give it a try. It was there Cory and I met Nelson. Dino the owner cut our hair at first. He also took my football bets and each week provided me with football gambling tickets. The shop was short on decor and long on friendliness, laughter, and comfort.
There was a second rate large screen projection TV that was normally tuned to sports or some courtroom show. Conversations and the barbershops regular characters were both hilarious. The time it took to cut our hair was less than twenty minutes, but I always stayed at least an hour. It was a place you could spend an entire day at and never be bored.
By the time Cory got his driver’s license, we had become regulars of Nelson’s. With a couple of exceptions which I won’t go into here, Nelson has cut our hair ever since. That was nearly ten years ago. Even after Cory went up to Gainesville, he makes it a point to have Nelson cut his hair whenever he’s home. We have followed Nelson to whatever shop he’s decided to make his temporary home until now. You see, Nelson finally has opened his own shop. There is no one happier for him than I.
Nelson is not my barber; he is a friend of mine who cuts my hair; just like Tony Gentile. From the beginning our banter was never small talk, we became engaged. The topics were diverse, all discussed with a certain amount of passion. Often other barbers or patrons put their two cents in. Getting my hair cut, an activity I loathed as a child became something I looked forward to.
Nelson and I have shared each others trials and tribulations as well as our dreams and aspirations. He has made me feel hopeful in times I felt less than. Last Saturday was Nelson’s chance to shine as he celebrated his shop’s Grand Opening which coincided with the airing of the Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley fight on Pay-Per-View which Nelson planned to purchase for the special occasion.
Nelson announced the event on his Facebook page. He sent out texts to his regular customers. He bought food and drinks for those who wished to partake. He was all set, or so he thought. There was this little matter of commercial broadcast rights for businesses who wished to show the fight. Nelson would have gladly paid whatever was needed to procure these rights, but there was more to it than that. Nelson was unclear about the rules and regulations for purchasing said fight for his establishment. These unfortunate details caused him great angst. He saw the evening playing out to utter failure. But Nelson didn’t consider one thing; himself.
After a futile attempt to have the fight streamed on the business computer, Derek and Tony rose above and beyond the call of duty. Tony had prior experience with satellite instillation. With Derek obtaining a dish from who knows where, Tony went to work attempting to hook up the computer to gain a signal via whatever means necessary. Both men took to the roof for one thing or another. Cables were run through the ceiling. No stone was left unturned. When it looked as though they had achieved success, only to find the signal sophisticatedly scrambled.
We all laughed at their furious Herculean effort. I was awed by it as well. Here they were doing anything on a moments notice to try and help out a friend. Some people who showed up to watch the fight left when they found out it wasn’t going to happen, but many stayed. They were there for Nelson, not having the fight may have put a damper on the evening, but it didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. We ate the food, beverages were consumed, more laughter ensued. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. The draw for me was not the fight, it was Nelson, our relationship, and the hope for his success that drew me there last Saturday. I’d venture a guess that many of the other guests that stayed well after midnight felt the same way. As an afterthought, did I mention Nelson gives me a great haircut?
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