Nine Mile Stories: Purvis' Barber Shop has old-fashioned feel, old-fashioned prices

My thinning hair was looking particularly ridiculous − a thin shag dealie that made me look a little like a less-handsome Bernie Sanders. I'm not particularly concerned with my appearance, but I don't want to look ridiculous, you know? (Not that Sanders looks ridiculous. That wacky 'do works for him.)

Well, I was at the Ace Hardware in Cantonment getting a propane tank refilled to keep warm during cold nights in the RV, when I realized Purvis' Barber Shop was right around the corner. I had seen Purvis Barber Shop for years during drives up and back to northern Escambia County. So I figured I'd give it a try.

(What's the difference between a barber shop and a salon/stylist? About $30 or so.)

Purvis' is a small place in a duplex office complex on Old Chemstrand Road off of Highway 29, and not far from Tate High School. There are old church pews in a small waiting area, and five barber chairs on the other side. There are old black-and-white photos of long-ago Pensacola − Hotel San Carlos, early Blue Angels, USS Oriskany, etc., as well as banners for Tate and West Florida high schools.

A friendly, bearded fella − "Mr. Gary" − ushered me into a chair and asked what I would have.

"No. 1."

Enough said. Soon, Mr. Gary − Gary Thompson − had a No. 1 blade on his clipper and started whittling away at my thin gray strands. But before he got too far along with the head mowing, I spied one of those barber posters on the wall showing all these fellas with various fancy hairdos, and each 'do had a number. No. 1 showed a dude with something way fancier than anything I would ever want.

"Wait, you're not giving me that No. 1, are you?"

He assured me he was shaving it down to practically zilch. (We all agreed that the No. 1 on the poster was more a Jimmy Swaggart hairstyle. Yes, it would by funny on me, but that's not what I was going for − "hilarious Jimmy Swaggart").

A few minutes later I was out the door with a sexy new haircut − my wife said it was and that's enough for me − and I was only out $20 − $14 and the tip. (I'm a big proponent of tipping. Not a big fan of being asked to "round up" every time I buy a cheeseburger.)

I'm a barber guy, not a salon guy, so I'm glad that after all these years, I stopped by Purvis' Barber Shop, which Sherri Purvis opened in 1996.

It's an old-fashioned barber shop − five barbers, five chairs and the talk flying from chair to chair.

Not so much gossip, Sherri Purvis said.

"Lots of sports, or catching bass and where the best fishing hole is,'' she said.

Sports talk is kind of a touchy situation these days.

Purvis is a "die-hard 'Bama fan" while Thompson, a few chairs down, is a Florida State University fan. And with the College Playoffs set − Alabama in, Florida State out − the talk isn't pretty.

"We got ripped off,'' Thompson said.

We asked Purvis if FSU was ripped off.

"It you go by rules, yeah,'' she said. "If you go by talent, no."

Purvis, Thompson and the rest have seen the area grow in the 27 years the business has been in, well, business.

"This used to be the neighborhood post office,'' Thompson said of the barber shop. "It's all grown so much. There's a lot more people moving around here."

But so many of the customers are the same.

"I've been doing this so long that I've given some people their first haircut and a haircut when they get married,'' Thompson said. Thompson, in his early 70s, has been cutting hair for more than 50 years.

"Someone said 'Go to barber school','' he recalled. "I said I couldn't even think of myself wearing a jacket standing behind a chair all day."

But there he is, white jacket standing behind a chair all day. Still, he looks good for an old-timer.

"Inside work,'' he said. "That's what does it."

Purvis went to barber school after graduating from Woodham High School in 1986 and opened her barber shop 10 years later.

"You don't see many old-fashioned barber shops,'' she said. "They've mainly gone by the wayside. Now, there are more style shops and sometimes at those places it will cost $50 for a haircut."

Eddie Wheatley is one of Purvis' longtime customers. On this day, he just came in for a standard haircut.

"How come you don't go to one of those fancy salons?'' he was asked.

"Because I'm not a fancy guy."

Same, Eddie. Same.

Purvis Barber Shop is located at 1345 Old Chemstrand Road and is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Purvis Barber Shop Cantonment in has been part of community since 1996