Robert Barnwell is the owner of Robert’s Barber Shop in the CSX building.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN CUTTING HAIR?
“The shop has been here since 1960 when the building opened. I’ve been here 35 years.”
WHAT IS YOUR
TARGET MARKET?
“I get customers from all over downtown. I’ll cut anybody’s hair that walks in here.”
WHAT SERVICES
DO YOU OFFER?
Haircuts are the staple of his business but he also provides shaves for men. Henry Hannon, who works for Barnwell, provides shoe shines. “I don’t do curling irons. I will have beauticians that will do that work for me.”
HOW MANY
EMPLOYEES DO YOU HAVE?
“Right now, it’s just me. The shop closed for a month to remodel and I haven’t hired anybody back yet. But I will add at least one more barber.”
WHAT’S YOUR
BIGGEST EXPENSE?
“Buying supplies, rent and keeping the shop clean.” Barnwell averages 20 clients a day.
HOMETOWN
Burlington, N.C.
WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO JACKSONVILLE?
“My father owned a soda shop in North Carolina; it caught on fire. He decided not to reopen it, so he moved down here in 1958. He came down here to work in the nursery [Jones & Hall Nurseries].”
EDUCATION
Glade Valley High School in North Carolina.
BEFORE BEING A BARBER?
“When I was growing up, I worked at Jones & Hall Nurseries. After high school, I went into the Army for three years as a paratrooper. I went to Okinawa, then Vietnam. When I came back home, I went to barber school [Jacksonville Barber College] and have been here ever since.”
WHY PICK UP
A PAIR OF SHEARS?
“When I was in the service, I was a young buck sergeant. At that time, they needed barbers out of the squadron. No barbers were allowed on base because we had just arrived in Vietnam. Only sergeants were permitted to cut hair so I had to cut everybody’s hair with hand clippers, the ones you squeeze. That’s where I got a taste of it. When I got back to the States, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I went to barber school.”
WHY DID
YOU STICK WITH IT?
“I like the people, especially the people here at CSX. I had the choice of working at George Washington Hotel but I came down here to the CSX building. I met the people in this barber shop. They were all different ages. I watched them work for a week and decided to work here. I love it. I just enjoy working with the people. It’s a pleasure to come to work. The people have treated me extremely well since I’ve been here.”
WHAT’S THE
CHALLENGE FOR YOU?
“Every time somebody walks through the door, you’re constantly doing something different.”
FAMILY
Hood Landing Lakes in Mandarin is home to Barnwell and his wife Kathy. They have a son, Tracy, a daughter, Kim, and a grandson, Zachary.
WHO’S YOUR HERO?
“Gen. [William] Westmoreland. He was my commanding general in Okinawa. He trained the 173rd Airborne Brigade. We went into Vietnam as an experiment and ended up as a huge division. I was over there a year but the outfit stayed seven. In those seven years, they wound up with 1,533 killed, 6,000 purple hearts and 14 medal of honor winners. Most of us came back alive and I credit him with that. He’s my hero because he trained us well enough to keep us alive. We trained in five different countries before we ever went in.”
— by Monica Chamness