A room with a view: Kings Collective barbers set up shop upstairs

Wade Schumpert was telling quite a story Saturday at the "soft opening" of The Kings Collective Barber and Apothecary.

There was no clipping of hair going on, but a lot of talking, munching and looking out the windows at the east-facing shop on the second floor of the downtown Minter Building building - home for years to Under One Roof.

Schumpert has a Polaroid-size photo at his barber's station, its color faded over time. The youngster pictured on the bench set across the arms of the barber chair is him. He's about 1.

Cute, but that's not the story. His barber was Wayne Petty, who cut hair in Clovis, N.M.

That's Nichole Reno-Meiron's grandfather.

Years later, Schumpert is one of five barbers at her new shop on Pine Street, proof again that it's a whisker-small world.

"Amazing," he said.

How Nichole became a barber

The Kings Collective is a throwback in many ways, though you won't pay a buck or two bits for a basic man's cut.

Reno-Meiron has filled the shop with memorabilia, homage to the profession that she has joined.

Her grandfather's father, Angus Petty, also cut hair, opening his shop in 1929 in Clovis.

In the summers, she'd visit and hang out at the barbershop, never imaging that one day she would continue the family tradition and the old-school feel of barbering, where networking went on before it was called that and good conversation was to be had.

Yet, it was a barber whose name she never got that led her into the profession.

Reno-Meiron in 2011 was being treated for what possibly was a brain tumor. She was waiting for an MRI at Baylor Scott & White in Temple when she struck up a conversation that would change her career path.

"I was sitting there feeling bad about myself when this old man walked by and smelled like my grandpa," she said. Her grandfather died when she was 13, and she still mourned his passing.

"I asked him if he was a barber," she said. "And he said, 'I was until two weeks ago. How did you know?'

"I said, 'You smell like my grandpa.' I just broke down crying."

The man sat with her for two hours "and he told me about his barbershop and why he like it so much."

What he liked most was knowing all the men in town, Reno-Meiron said.

He knew every plumber and every roofer, and believed he could help his customers by connecting them, if need arose, he told her.

"My community was the best part about being a barber," he said.

She was called for the MRI, and she never saw the man again.

While she was being scanned, she thought, "If I don't have a brain tumor and die, I think I'll be a barber."

It wasn't a tumor. She was producing too much spinal fluid. When that was addressed, she was good to go.

To barber school.

She moved to Abilene in 2018, and eventually began working at Kingslee Allen's downtown shop.

Now, Allen's shop is her shop.

And on display is a vial of spinal fluid, to remind her of how all this started.

Love at first sight

Her shop is not at street level, however, with an iconic pole spinning slowly and colorfully outside.

What sold Reno-Meiron on the location were the upstairs windows. Granted, the immediate view is of the drab Abilene ISD administration building across the street. But there is the sky, and bright light comes in.

The windows, which are new, fold in. They'll be open on nice days, she said.

The space is about 1,500 square feet. It's above the entrance and display windows of Under One Roof.

She remembers seeing the space for the first time.

"I walked in and said, 'Oh my gosh, this is my barbershop,'" she said, smiling.

She believes her space reminds customers of old-school barbershops, but it's also updated.

"It's ... elevated," she said.

After all, it is on the second floor.

"Even better," she said, laughing.

Kingslee's influence

If the name sounds familiar, it's the new version of the Kings Barbers, which was on Walnut Street next to The Ice House.

"It's kind of an evolution," Reno-Meiron said.

That was opened in 2017 by Kingslee Allen, Reno-Meiron arrived in 2018 and jumped at the chance to buy the business. Allen now is involved in three ventures in operation at the Windsor - the Pour House, the Hub (a recreation center) and Sway, a wine and coffee bistro that will open this summer.

Reno-Meiron said she had "the bug" to open her own place, and it was love at first sight when she came across the open space at 244 Pine St.

"Her and I always talked about me buying the shop from her," Reno-Meiron said. "And that's essentially what I did. What we took is the foundation that Kingslee built and we expanded on that and will continue to expand on that over time.

"That idea of community."

That sense of community her barber angel talked about is Reno-Meiron's goal.

"Collective is very specific for a reason," she said of what she admits is a long business name.

As she defines it, that ranges from tapping into the local re-entry program for adults to "dad and little yoga." Little being youngsters.

Yoga?

"Yeah," she said, as if barbering and yoga go together like shaving cream and a razor.

Mullets and more

The Collective is: Reno-Meiron, owner and barber; barbers Schumpert, Eli Hernandez, Leslie Rangel and Esai Sotelo; and Claudia Scroggins, who is both a barber and has her own room for facials and other services.

The shop will be open Mondays to Saturday, by appointment. Walk-ins can be worked in, she said. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., though individual barbers can arrange hours before or after by arrangement with the customer.

Appointments can be made at thecollectiveabilene.com.

Whatever a customer wants - basic cut or something specific - can be accommodated, she said.

"I joke that I am the self-professed mullet queen of Abilene," Reno-Meiron said, laughing.

"I. Love. Mullets," she said of the once-maligned 1980s hairstyle that has made a comeback.

"And I like a 1930s drop, a really heavy fade," she said. Most men still prefer a classic gentleman's style, "but we can do anything."

A "regular" haircut will cost $35.

Reno-Meiron realizes that is not inexpensive - especially for, say, college students. It may even be a treat.

However, the goal is to have the cut last for weeks, even as the hair grows out.

"If you miss your haircut," she said, "you still look good."

Asked if men are more fussy about their looks today, Reno-Meiron said "For a long time, it wasn't masculine to care. In my opinion, it's more masculine to care ... to take pride in yourself.

"When you look good, you feel good."

Going to the barber allows men to reset, she said. The guys need "me time," just as women do, she said.

"I don't think we do enough of that," Reno-Meiron said. "I think it's very important to take 30 minutes or an hour once a month to come to a space that's just yours, that's quiet, and to reset."

How about letting someone else give you a shave?

"We are barbers, so we do hot shaves, head shaves, neck shaves," she said.

And Scroggins, who has 21 years in the profession, offers artisan shaves and body waxing.

Another service is a 20-minute scalp massage.

"It's a way to just sit and relax," she said.

'To be that space'

The business also is an apothecary. Another relative operated a drug store in Childress.

"I have a bunch of things from his store," she said. She also has barber's items - her family is one to save things, she said.

Petty collected razors and knives.

"I mean avid. Cases. I couldn't bring them all in here even if I wanted to," she said. "I have all these things that part of my family that I get to surround myself with here. And share with other people."

Items are displayed in cases, on shelves and attached to walls.

"It's an homage to my roots, I guess," she said of The Kings Collective.,

Most of her apothecary items for sale are all natural she said.

"I try to find things that I know are good," she said. And reasonably priced.

"I don't want you to buy a hundred-dollar face mask," she said.

After all, her clientele's collars are blue and white, and ages vary, she said.

"I want this to be a space that everyone can afford," Reno-Meiron said.

Barbershops traditionally have been a man's space. Movies, in fact, have been made about barbershops and the banter that goes on there.

"I feel that has been on trend," Reno-Meiron said, "and I hope it stays.

"One of my favorite parts about my job is that reset for people. To be that space."

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: A room with a view: Kings Collective barbers set up shop upstairs