The end of so many eras
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By BETH ZUMWALT
Submitted photo
The John Thomas July 23, 1963 when he started his barber shop in Pleasant Hill.
The closing of John Thomas’s Barbershop in Pleasant Hill will be the July 23, Sunday. He has been in business 60 years and is closing the shop on the same day as he opened it in 1963.
It is the last barbershop in Pleasant Hill, it is the meeting place for men of the community to hang-out and the last business with Thomas in the title. Thomas’s great-great-great uncle opened a doctor’s office in the village and there has been a Thomas business ever since.
“I will be closing my barber shop July 23, 2023, bringing that 175 year consecutive streak to an end,” Thomas said. “ I am sorry I am the one who will be breaking that long streak. I wish everyone could experience all the fun I have had in my shop this past 60 years. On the flip side, I have memories of a lot of tragic things that took place in and around our little community during that time.
Thomas tells of the pranks and silliness coming out of his shop the past 60 years with a twinkle in his eye.
“I post some of them on Facebook,” he said. “Some, I can’t post on Facebook.”
Thomas came home from the military and decided to attend the Springfield Barber College.
Coming home from the school in 1963, he rented the building where he is today.
“I bought it in 1965,” Thomas said. “The chair I use was used in a barber shop in Pleasant Hill operated by a man named Arthur Brinker. He moved to Louisiana and opened a shop there. My dad called him and ask him if had any spare chairs and he did. He sold it to me for $15.”
Dan Galloway, who worked at a service station across the street from Thomas Shop on Quincy Street, waited for Thomas to arrive at the shop that first day.
“As soon as he saw me unlock the door, he came over for haircut,” Thomas said. “He was my first customer.”
Thomas said he was very busy the first day and was sure he’d be wealthy in a short period of time.
Business slowed down and in a few years, Thomas saw the fad of long hair for men begin.
Submitted photo
The John Thomas of 2023 as he enters his last week of barbering.
“A lot of men, especially the younger generation began going to women to get their hair cut, or I should say styled, and many still do,” Thomas said. “I could see the writing on the wall and knew I was going to have to change with the times.” That is when Thomas purchased a franchise with Roffler Sculptur Kut of IIllinois. “It was a very unique way to cut hair,” Thomas said. “Business began to flourish once again.”
“Because of my job with the postal service, I quit giving Roffler Sculptur Kuts because they are very time consuming,” Thomas said. “I no longer had the time for that and to take care of all the customers who still got regular types of haircuts.”
Thomas said the barber business has bounced back to some extent but he doesn’t see it ever being like it was in the1960’s.
“Haircuts, shampoos, shaves, rolling cream massages, mud packs, hair tonics, hair straightening, hair pieces for men, you name it, we did it all,” he said
Thomas said cutting hair is no longer his main source of income. Going to work for the postal service has let me keep the price of a haircut to a minimum. Although it has raised from the one dollar cut he offered in the beginning.
And Thomas has given a fair share of free hair cuts to people who have done him favors and others who were deserving.
“Wednesdays and Saturdays, I was open until 9 p.m.,” Thomas said. “Saturday was always a big day at the barber shop as Pleasant Hill was full of businesses. Hard to believe now. I come in now just long enough to catch up on the local gossip which is provided by my long time buddy, Bob Bowman. And of course there are still a few pranks and laughs.
“Many of my old customers are at Crescent Heights Cemetery or other cemeteries now. As Glennie Johns used to say, a lot of good old boys. I think of those guys often. Some of them were real characters and had some funny stories to tell. Some true and some exaggerated.”
July 23 falls on a Sunday this year and Thomas has decided to open the shop, as usual in the old days, at 8 a.m. Free haircuts will be available to anyone entering the shop.
“It is to show my appreciation of the people of Pleasant Hill, Nebo, Atlas, Rockport, Summer Hill, New Hartford, Pike Station, North Calhoun County, Pittsfield, Pearl, Louisiana and the entire surrounding area that has been so good to me over the years.”
