MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's an honor to have your business called a fixture of the community, but there's really no other way to describe this place. They've just reached a pretty major milestone.
"Larry, this the first time you've cut hair?" I joked with Larry Capps as he began to work with another customer.
"No, this is not the first time I've cut hair!" he laughed. "Millions of times!"
What Larry captures with his Larry's Barber Shop in Mt. Juliet is a little taste of the old fashioned. This is a classic barbershop with the good candy, those neck shaves with the hot towel after, and a certain old fashioned sensibility.
"Someone's always wanting to know if I'm a Democrat or a Republican," he smiled. "I tell 'em it's according to who's hair I'm cuttin'!"
Larry's run Larry's Barber Shop on Lebanon Rd. for 60 years.
"When I first came out here, the other side of the road was nothing but cows walking up and down the pasture there," Larry said.
The store was originally a few doors back. It was there about five years, then moved up. That's it. It's there ever since.
"I'm 87 years old," Larry said.
"What's your secret?" I asked him.
"I think, just working," Larry answered. "Working, I think it keeps me going."
Having a business 60 years is a special kind of longevity. What seems to be key is a bond Larry carries with longtime customers.
"I've been coming here about 30 years," said customer Allen Engen. "Oh yeah! I like Larry."
He also starts an immediate bond with new customers.
That's how daughter Robbie sees it.
"I think they think a whole lot of him," she said.
There's also this. Larry's connection to his customers means the room doesn't only tell his story, it tells their story.
"The first customer I ever had since I came to Mt. Juliet, he still comes to me," Larry said, gesturing to some pictures around the room. "His name's Frank Henderson. That's Barry Wilmore, the astronaut from Mt. Juliet. I started cutting his hair when he was 8-years-old. He's at the space station now. The first time he went up there, he called me from up there. One of my customers said, 'he didn't call you collect, did he?'"
Larry pointed to a flag on the wall.
"The guy who sent that to us from Iraq is Lance Jenkins. He was deployed over there."
Larry figures he may have to possibly retire at some point down the road.
"I'm not there yet!" he said. "I'm not going anywhere!"
"They'll have to drag him out of here," Robbie smiled. "Proud of him. Thankful he's still here. We'll have him til he's 100, I hope."
Do you have a positive, good news story? Email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
I LOVE Forrest's stories on the history of NewsChannel 5 as we celebrate our 70th anniversary. Here's a story I wasn't familiar with until recently. Eudora Boxley had a live cooking show in the early days of the station. She may have been the first black on air at NewsChannel 5 and perhaps, one of the first African Americans to have a TV cooking show anywhere in the country. It wasn't until her grandson reached out to me that I even heard of Ms. Boxley. Thankfully, I was able to connect him with Forest to learn more about this great nugget in NewsChannel 5 history.
-Lelan Statom
