The Walper Barbershop is working through its last two months of clients.
Barbers there had been renting the space as a collection of independent businesses for years. They say they’re looking for options, but will have a hard time replacing their shop’s history—it’s been operating for 126 years.
“Now we have to go, we’re not part of the hotel anymore,” says Robert Metcalf, a barber who has worked in the shop for more than two decades. “That’s just really hard to process and take in.”
Metcalf says they were served an eviction notice on March 29, telling the shop that the space had been reassigned.
The shop is owned by Perimeter Development Corp., who says they took the space back just as easily as the barbers could have left on their month-to-month lease.
“Despite past inquiry, (they) have never expressed a desire to re-position and upgrade their shop or enter into a longer term arrangement,” the company said in a statement.
But the barbers say they were never given that chance.
“We were never against a lease or a raise, but we were never approached,” says Linda Smith.
It’s not just the barbers who are upset about the closure.
Ryan Lehner has been getting his hair cut at the shop for 20 years.
“They don’t have places like this anymore, it’s unique,” he says. “You’re not going to find a place like this ever again, it’s gone. It’ll be gone, and then the history of it will be gone and the next generation’s not going to remember.”
The barbers are hoping to stay together and find a new location, hoping to bring as much of their history and their clients along with them.
In recent years the Walper Hotel has undergone a number of changes, from a remodel of its hotel and restaurant to a reimagining of its bar and event space.
The barber shop has until the end of May to move out.
