The barber of the ville'
Gary Parsons bets men still like a traditional barbershop
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

PHOTO BY ROB PRICE Pictured above, Gary Parsons takes a break between haircuts at his barbershop in Hammondsport.

HAMMONDSPORT - It's not everyday a new barbershop opens in town.

In fact, Hammondsport residents have been telling Gary Parsons there hasn't been a barber in the village in 36 years.

"Barbers are a dying breed," says Parsons, a 48-year-old Penn Yan resident who decided to defy that particular trend and open The Hammondsport Barbershop last month.

"I've been well received," he said. "Business has been great."

According to Parsons, the oldfashioned barbershop began losing popularity as men began shifting their business to beauty salons. But Parsons believes many men still yearn for the traditional atmosphere of male camaraderie. "They want a place to spread the BS and start an argument," he says.

He hopes The Hammondsport Barbershop can offer that kind of opportunity. "Good barbers not only cut hair," he says. "They're counselors to their customers. They run a clearing house for information. Barbers have to be the local newspaper, too."

A master barber, Parsons studied cosmetology at The Shear Eagle Beauty School, in Rochester, 12 years ago, then practiced barbering in Penn Yan for 12 years at a shop owned by the family of a good school friend.

In fact, it was that friend who urged Parsons to take up barbering more than 12 years ago, after Parsons had been injured by a cow in the Penn Yan slaughter house where he worked. Parsons recalled he entered the barbershop for haircut, wearing a brace and metal pins in his leg.

"Why don't you go to school and be a barber?" his friend asked. It was all the persuasion Parsons needed.

"I wanted something a lot easier on the body," he said.

Now married with four children, Parsons says it took a leap of faith to open his own barbershop. "I just had to pull the nerve together," he says.

The Hammondsport Barbershop is located on Main Street in the hear of the village. It's open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, and 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

"Barbering is coming back," Parsons says happily, noting men's grooming products are a fast growing sector of the retail market. He will soon offer a line of men's products at the shop - along with hair cuts, counseling and an chance to catch up on the local news.