‘It’s like a calling’
After more than 20 years, New Milford woman closes barber shop
NEW MILFORD — Kym Wilbur has great memories of tagging along with her father and two brothers when she was a little girl, when they got their haircuts at Jimmy's Barber Shop in town.
“Jimmy Barone (the prior owner) gave out great lollipops,” said Wilbur, now 61, who just closed the business, on 56 Railroad St., after owning it for more than 20 years.
During the time Wilbur owned Jimmy's, hundreds of customers have come through her door.
“There have been some that came every week. They are professional men and they want to look clean cut all the time,” said Wilbur, a Winchester resident who closed Jimmy's because she needed to devote time to care for her 91-year-old father, who needs full-time care.
While it typically takes about 10 minutes for a men's haircut, a lot can be said during that time, Wilbur said.
While some clients just wanted to talk about politics and world events, others confided many personal things to Wilbur over the years, she said.
She's heard about marriages falling apart and clients being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
She's shed tears with many of them and also rejoiced at happy occasions, such as newborn babies and weddings.
“I've had interesting characters from all over the world come in, who happened to be passing by in town,” she said. “I was always amazed at the stories people would tell me.”
The relationships with her clients worked both ways.
“There were times when I was down with things going on in my life and the right person would come in and encourage me,” she said. “It was like, ‘oh wow, I needed to hear that today.'”
Each time customers came in, “we just picked up where we left off,” she said.
Wilbur said her motto is: “It's more than a haircut.”
“Certainly, we want people to look good when they leave, but we want people to feel comfortable and share what's going on in their lives personally, if they want to,” she said.
Her clients have watched her sons, Josh and Zack — who are now 41 and 38 — grow up, and learned all about what they're up to at each stage of their life, she said.
New Milford resident Corrine Thompson said the men in her family have been going to Jimmy's for generations.
“She made them all presentable for every graduation, wedding, funeral, family party. She's been a part of all of them,” Thompson said.
She added Wilbur always remembers people and their connections.
Additionally, she said, Wilbur “was wonderful with my elderly dad and amazing with my squirmy 2-year-old grandson. She's just a loving, caring person. She's ingrained in our family because she was part of every event.”
Sherman resident Art Crane said Wilbur has been his “go-to” for 18 years, “and I don't want anyone else.”
Wilbur said she especially enjoyed giving haircuts to children.
“I had a fish tank and I would put it right next to my station and I would let the kids name them and feed the fish,” she said.
Just like Barone, she also gave out pops to children.
“Tootsie pops,” she said, adding she also gives out combs and pens.
Former New Milford resident Jimmy Barone, who opened Jimmy's in 1965, said the building was a hair cutting business since the late 1800s.
Upon taking it over, Barone completely remodeled it.
“I put everything new in there — new floor, new AC new furnace,” said Barone, who is 85.
Getting into the hair business
When Wilbur was young, she initially wanted a career in nursing and became a certified nursing assistant, or CNA. She worked as a private duty CNA in nursing homes and hospitals.
At that time in the 1970s, she said there was a waiting list for nursing jobs. So, she decided to pursue hair cutting as a “back-up.”
“I consider myself artistic so working with hair came easily for me,” said Wilbur, who grew up in Roxbury.
She took classes at the American Academy of Cosmetology and the American Beauty Institute.
She began giving haircuts to celebrities and local politicians — whose names she didn't want to disclose.
“I would go to their homes and do them personally,” she said.
In 1995, Wilbur briefly owned Town & Country Barber Shop in Litchfield.
A year later, when Wilbur heard Barone needed parttime help, she closed Town & Country and began working at Jimmy's — and never looked back.
“I love serving people. To me, it's like a calling,” said Wilbur, who took over the business in 2000.
Now that Wilbur will be taking care of her father, she feels her life has come full circle.
“I started going into nursing and it seems like this is what I'll be doing now,” she