Steady hands
Barbershop owner celebrates 50 years
Only one other business in the small city of Grubbs has been opened longer than Butch’s Barber Shop, and that is the post office.
“And they talked about closing it about three years ago,” said Butch Shelby, owner of the barbershop. “Believe it or not, we used to have two banks in town and had about five different places to get gas.
“But we haven’t been able to do that in about 15 years. Now we have to go to Newport for almost everything.”
Shelby’s barbershop has been opened for 50 years. He said the reason for his longevity has been his customers and their loyalty to his shop. He has people come in from Newport, Tuckerman, Swifton, Weiner and Waldenburg. He said he has one customer who comes all the way from Heber Springs.
“I had one kid who moved around quite a bit,” Shelby said. “When he was transferred to Stuttgart, he still visited me; then he was transferred to West Memphis but would still come to me. It wasn’t until he finally moved to Jackson, Mississippi, did he say it was too far to drive.
“It just makes you appreciate them that much more. It makes you feel good.”
Shelby, 72, was born and raised in Grubbs and currently lives 5 miles south in Pennington with his wife, Nina. They have been married 54 years and have two children together, a son, Heath Shelby, and a daughter, Angie Carlton.
Heath Shelby lives in Searcy with his wife, Jennifer, and their two children: Collin, 19, who attends the University of Arkansas in Little Rock; and Caitlyn, 13. Carlton lives in Jonesboro with her husband, Barry, and their son, Cade, who is a senior at Arkansas State University.
“Over those 50 years, Dad made his way in the world and did so doing something he absolutely loves,” Heath wrote in a Facebook post. “I can honestly tell you that aside from his family and his dog, Dad loves nothing more than getting to work before 7 a.m. and finding someone there waiting for a haircut.”
Butch opened up his shop four years after he and his wife got married. He said she put him through barber school in North Little Rock.
“We met way back, when we were running around as kids,” Butch Shelby said. “She went to Newport High School, and I went to Grubbs High School.”
According to Heath, his dad and mom were living in Little Rock while Butch was enrolled in barber college. Once Butch graduated, he was offered a full-time job working for another barber in Little Rock.
“However, Dad wanted something more for himself, for mom and for his future family,” Heath said. “Dad wanted to come home to Grubbs. He wanted to be his own boss and make his own money.”
“I just wanted to be my own boss and come and go when I wanted to,” Butch said. “I found out it doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to be here, whether you want to or not.”
The city of Grubbs recently presented Butch with a plaque for his 50 years of being in business. Mayor Jackie Ivy, who has been a customer at the shop since it opened, said Butch’s shop is where he gets all his information, and Butch is friends with just about everybody.
“He has always been there, so we have just always used him,” Ivy said. “I have never had any complaints with his haircuts. We lived out in the country before we moved to Grubbs, and we always had our haircuts there. Got no reason to go anywhere else.
“I thought [the plaque] was well deserved. I hope he stays as long as I am around.”
Ivy’s youngest son, John, was in the shop when a storm blew off the roof of the barbershop. “He’ll never go in there again and ask for a little bit off the top,” Ivy said with a laugh.
Butch credits his success to just showing up every day and going to work, even during the most difficult of times.
Twice in his career, Butch has broken both of his arms simultaneously. The first time came when he was riding down the highway on the tailgate of a pickup and was thrown from the vehicle.
Then about five years later, in 1989, Butch fell off a ladder at his house.
“We had added a carport onto the house, and we were moving the antenna,” Butch said. “Coming back down, the ladder kicked out from under me, and I fell on the concrete.
“You learn to talk real sweet to your wife when you have two broken arms, and you depend on her to do everything. … She won’t let me get near a ladder anymore.”
Despite having two broken arms and being off work for six weeks the first time and 10 weeks the second time, Butch said, he had a lot of customers wait until he returned before they got a haircut.
“The first time Dad broke both of his arms, it provided me the opportunity to learn how to drive, as I would take him to Grubbs each day to go to the bank and the post office,” Heath said.
The second time was more severe, so Butch asked the doctors if they could cut his casts so he could bend his elbows, allowing him to cut hair while he recovered.
“If you were one of dad’s customers during those times, you all owe me a tremendous debt,” Heath said. “Who do you think was the guinea pig, the first head of hair dad cut on his way to recovery?”
Butch said one of the biggest changes he has seen since being in business is when the district closed the high school in 1993. Nine years later, the city closed the elementary school, too.
“It really killed the town when we lost it,” Butch said.
Still, one of his favorite memories as a barber was in the 1980s, when the boys senior high basketball team had Butch shave their numbers into the side of their heads.
“That got a lot of people talking,” Butch said. “I received several calls from some mothers who were upset that I had done it.”
Butch wanted to become a barber after visiting his uncle, Forrest Shelby, at his shop at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis.
“I had an uncle who used to manage the barber shop in Memphis,” Butch said. “I used to go and spend a week with him every now and then, and it just kind of impressed me.
“Back then, we didn’t know what air conditioning was, and he had a 15-chair shop. It was nice and cool, and I thought, “This is something I could get used to.’”
Butch said he grew up working at his granddad’s sawmill, so the idea of working inside where it was cool in the summer and warm in the winter intrigued him.
Butch said one of things he is also known for is handing out $2 bills in change in the 1990s. Back then, he was charging customers $8 a haircut, so when they would pay, he would give out the $2 bill in change.
“I’ve had some customers tell me they have saved every $2 bill I’ve ever given them,” Butch said. “And I gave out a bunch.”
“I’ve learned more about Dad sitting in that barber chair than anywhere else in the world …,” Heath said. “I have been able to learn important things about life through our many conversations about families, friends, Fords and favorite dogs.”