Shave and a Haircut

Only one day out from having to fulfill my Guard duty, and my hair is about as long as it has been since I sported a half-hearted mullet back in the '80s. Bound to have lunch in Grandin Court, I thought I'd try the barber shop I've seen down there a few times - the aptly named Grandin Road Barber Shop. It's hidden in plane sight next to Grandin Theatre.

Inside, '70s-style décor such as green leather seats and the old and rugged barber chairs go along with the oldies music softly humming in the background. Signs posted on the wall behind each chair identify the barbers, of which there are two out three working.

The one cutting my mop is named Roger - a nice and genuine older fellow who's likely been cutting hair longer than I've been alive. Amid the proclaimed "crowd" of five or so people, there's talk about the economy, social consciousness, and the neighborhood.

I see the guy in front of me getting shaved with a straight razor and I tell me wife that I've always wanted to do that just to see what it's like.

When it's my turn, we talk about the weather (which is beautiful) and about the occasion for the cut and style. Just as I think he's finished, he swaps the paper collar out and starts to lather me up around the ears and on the neck. It looks like I'll be getting a razor cut today.

I look at my wife and see that she's smiling, but she's really only a blur since I've had to lose the glasses.

The experience was interesting, and I decided to go in just for the shave one of these days or coupled with the next haircut. The rate is pretty cheap, they take checks, and I walked away smelling like my grandfather.

GIve Downtown Some Credit

Right now, my hair is much longer than it should be. I'm reporting for Guard duty down in Charlotte looking more like Lt Dan than Forest Gump, and it's all because all I've got in my wallet is a check card.

Okay, it's largely because I put off getting a haircut until a couple of hours before heading down here, but it's partially due to downtown Roanoke businesses hanging onto the antiquated medium of paper currency with might and main.

My regular barber takes check, which is better than cash only, especially considering I haven't seen cash in like, eight months or so, and then it was just because I found a 20-spot at the Towers Mall CVS. Alas, he was sick, so I was relegated to wandering downtown looking to put the two-guard smack-down on my mop - but to no avail.

Don't get me wrong, I think that if a business wants to deal only in cash - hell, only in gold nuggets - then let no one tell them otherwise. But that same establishment shouldn't look to the sky and wonder why there are no customers, or blame a sluggish economy on lousy business.

I've never run a brick and mortar store, so perhaps dealing with credit cards and their fee structures is a headache or economically difficult to justify, but I'd like to think that - fees or no - it is a natural evolution of commerce that is either embraced as a boon to business or rejected and thereafter is an anchor that has real costs in lost customers.

Either way, my hair is still long, and some Roanoke barbers are still that much poorer because of it. So nobody wins.