A new barbershop with an old-fashioned name has opened downtown, and the owner has ambitious plans for a four-chair business.
Walker’s Tonsorial Parlor is in the building that most recently housed The Look Boutique on South Main Street between 10th and 11th streets. Many longtime Hopkinsville residents know it as the old Buck’s Ladies Shop building.
Jason Walker recently rented the building from new owners, Tyler Young and Taylor Thieke.
For now, Walker’s customers will enter the shop from a side entrance on 11th Street. He plans to use a rear portion of the building until the main shop is fully renovated.
He charges $24 for a haircut.
Walker, 47, of Cadiz, was a barber for several months at The Miller’s Son on Sixth Street and ran a shop in Cadiz for several years.
“I see the possibilities in Hopkinsville,” he said.
Walker’s wife, Angelique Gray, will eventually join the business as an esthetician, offering facials and other salon services.
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“We’re going to offer a number of services,” Walker said.
In addition to four barber chairs, Walker plans to include a small putting green in the front of the shop and a play area for children in the back. He also wants to recruit someone to shine shoes.
Walker cuts hair for men and women.
To help finance his plans, Walker is selling a package to customers who are willing to pay now for two years of barber services. For $1,000, a customer will receive a haircut every three weeks. It comes to 17 haircuts a year for two years. The fee covers tax and tips.
Another barber, Justin Greenwell, is slated to join Walker later this summer.
Walker is an Army veteran. In his last tour in Iraq, he was a medic. He left the service in 2013.
Customers can make appointments by calling Walker at 270-366-2380.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
