Local Carrboro barbershop remains three things: consistent, successful, and friendly

 COMMUNITY NEWS

By Thomas Hicks
Correspondent

CHAPEL HILL — As you leave Franklin Street heading westbound, a curve on the road transitions you into East Main Street in Carrboro, NC. You go down a tad farther, and after clearing a few lights, you can see old-timey candy stripes on the corner of a series of old brick buildings. At first glance, they remind you of a small piece of old America, like a scene from The Sandlot or maybe even It’s a Wonderful Life. And on the glass window, you can see the comforting name of a business that has stood since 1961.

“The Friendly Barbershop.”

In the post-COVID-19 era of reduced social interaction, who wouldn’t be enticed by a friendly and old-school barbershop?

When you walk into the shop, it looks like nothing has changed since it opened. Little has. There is a wall of old pictures, an old gumball machine, old wooden chairs to wait in, and the son of the business’s founder. That would be Russ Sturdivant. He mans the middle chair where he cuts hair and has for several years.

Sturdivant is the current owner and inherited the business from his father, Grady Sturdivant.

“My father started it in 1961. And then I came in in 1996 to help him out because, you know        it’s kind of hard to find barbers,” Sturdivant said while sitting in the comfortable middle chair he always cut hairs in, “and then about the time I got the hang of it he passed away so it was dropped on my lap.”

The elder Sturdivant passed away in 1999, and Russ has run it ever since. Despite constant change, the business has remained fruitful. They weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and even gained new customers from that time.

“The shops in Chapel Hill…went to appointment only… so in the past four or five years, we’ve had an influx of college students like we’ve never seen before,” Sturdivant says. He has also enjoyed more than just the new business; he has enjoyed the new faces. He says, “But you know just like the general population, 90% of them are great guys, fun to talk to, glad to see them. But we have been just inundated with college students.”

What is even more impressive is that the business doesn’t advertise. They have grown purely by old-school word-of-mouth.

“The volume has increased drastically over the years of the amount of people that come in but we do no advertising whatsoever we just do by word of mouth,” Studrivant says. “So you know sometimes we get bad reviews on Google sometimes we get great reviews, but so far as changing this business itself, it’s just grown.”

Similar to their customer base, the area is changing rapidly. Gone are classic UNC alumni favorites like the ever-popular restaurant “The Rathskeller,” and now the area sees more places like Starbucks, Target, and other corporate, new-age businesses. But people can take comfort in the fact that this shop hasn’t changed. The shop’s veteran customers can attest to that.

“I think one of the cool things about it is it doesn’t change. I mean, I think this picture wall has been pretty consistent over the years. I don’t know that many of those pictures have changed,” said long-time customer Ed Gaunt. Gaunt has been a resident of Carrboro since 1990, 34 years ago, which is when he first started visiting the shop. And Ed keeps coming in because, as he said, “It’s reliable, you know it’s here, and you know you’re going to get a good haircut.”

Long-tenured picture wall at The Friendly Barbershop. Photo Credits to Thomas Hicks.

Others besides Russ contribute to this business as well. The other veteran and consistent presence at Friendly is long-time barber Jeff Knox. Knox has been at Friendly’s for 13 years and has enjoyed his time in the shop.

Knox says, “Russ has been great to work with. He’s been a great guy to work for. It’s part of the reason I’ve stuck around as long as I have.”

He says he has seen the business remain consistent through the support of its customers.

“The atmosphere here is the same. The ambiance. You come in, you feel like you’re not necessarily walking into a barbershop in Mayberry, but it still feels like an old-school (barbershop).”

And while Knox enjoys the consistent decor and culture, he has also seen the business grow and develop.

“As Russ kind of covered with the college students, that has picked up and helped us out considerably. One thing I think that has helped us a lot is our Google presence has grown.  We went from maybe 12 reviews to I think we’ve got 123 now. I think that helps us out tremendously. We’ve seen an uptick in business, which has been nice.”

Knox has laid down roots at this shop and is certainly thankful for the opportunity and business the city and town have provided, saying,

“Carrboro and Friendly has been good to me.”

Knox appreciates the business and community so much that he will take over for Studivant, who plans to retire soon. He will need another barber to come on with him to replace Sturdivant. Fortunately, they have already had someone coming in to work the past few months to help cut hair: Jeff Knox’s son, Phillip Knox.

Jeff gives his coworker and son, Phillip, a haircut. Photo Credits to Thomas Hicks.

Phillip graduated from Barber School in January, starting the program in the latter months of 2022. He has been working with his dad at the shop since then.

When asked how he has liked working at the shop to this point, the younger Knox replied,

“I enjoy it. It takes some getting used to because this is a very busy, high-traffic shop.”

But it is better to have the problem of too much business rather than too little. Phillip also looks forward to his Dad taking over the shop and them running it together because he says it is a well-established business, and you don’t mess with a good thing.

“There’s no need to change something that’s (not) broken,” and he says his father is on the same page as he is. “And I like that he thinks the same thing. He doesn’t want to come in here and just do a bunch of changes or anything like that. He kind of wants to keep it established.”

And aside from Friendly’s success and stability, he mentions one more crucial benefit.

“I think it’d be good for our relationship.”

The Knox father-son duo will keep things as is, which has worked for this business for a very long time. By all accounts, it will continue to be a Carrboro staple for years to come.

Thomas Hicks is a journalist with video, PR, and writing experience who studied at UNC and the Hussman School of Journalism and Media. Thomas is always looking for work and the next story! He loves working with his camera or with his pen. This reporter can be contacted at thomasjhicks55@gmail.com, LinkedIn: Thomas Hicks and X: ThomasJ_H