YOU ARE HERE Each month, we’ll throw a dart at a map and write about where it lands. LOCATION: 105 Statesville Rd. HUNTERSVILLE (Near the intersection of Statesville and Gilead roads)
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An Old-Time Trim in Boomtown Huntersville
A PERPETUAL LOGJAM OF CARS chokes the intersection of Statesville and Gilead roads, just off exit 23 on Interstate 77 in Huntersville. But within view sits a place that’s barely changed since before the population boom: Gary’s Barber Shop. The five-chair shop has occupied a slot in the Bayshore Plaza strip mall for 30 years, as Huntersville’s population soared from about 6,500 to more than 57,000. A few years ago, half the shopping center was bulldozed to make way for a new Aldi grocery store, but Gary’s stayed put, and its customers kept coming. Edward Carter is captain of the prime chair in the shop’s front window. He’s been working for owner Gary Carter, his uncle, for the last 40 years: 23 at Gary’s first location in Derita, the last 17 at this spot. This afternoon, West Hunter of Mooresville sits in Edward Carter’s chair. West figures he first got his hair cut at Gary’s in Derita 35 years ago, “back when it was the only
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barbershop around.” Since then, every three weeks, he’s sat in either Gary’s or Edward Carter’s chair, bringing his sons as they grew. He comes in now with tales of his five grandchildren. Working the chair next to Edward Carter is barber Scott Enloe, 37, who grew up in Huntersville and watched as hospitals, schools, shopping centers, and business parks sprung up in place of farms and forests. But Gary’s has kept its old-time feel, from the black-and-white checkered linoleum floor to the “Lather Time” hot shaving cream dispenser and the spiralbound paper calendar where appointments are jotted in pencil. “How much has culture changed inside this shop? None. Because I keep it that way,” Edward Carter says with a chuckle. “We’ve gotten to see a lot of growth in this area—changes happened, new industry came in. Thank God I’m still a part of it.” —Cristina Bolling
SHAW NIELSON; CRISTINA BOLLING
As everything around it changes by the hour, Gary’s Barber Shop stays true, and put
