Meet Daniel Brooks — the happy-go-lucky owner of Broad Street Barbers who has been cutting hair and making friends with everyone he meets for 50 years now.
Broad Street Barbers has been in the shopping center on Illinois Ave. in Southern Pines since 1966. Daniel has had a chair in the corner since 1975 — a chair that’s served as a barber chair, a couch at a therapist’s office and the site of many first haircuts.
“I like to say I’m a barber, part-time therapist and part-time marriage counselor,” Daniel laughs. “I don’t give a whole lot of advice, but I listen.”
The shop looks pretty much the same as it did in the 70s, you know, with the exception of a few updates. There’s a television in the corner that’s never turned on because there’s too much conversation happening. In another corner of the shop is an old-fashioned gum ball machine.
Daniel started his career as a barber at a small shop in downtown Cameron after completing his certification at Durham Barber School. Both of those places are long gone, but Daniel’s love for his job is still going strong. He’s now the sole owner of Broad Street Barbers, although he did have to “cut back to working just 40 hours a week” recently.
So what’s kept Daniel going all these years? His answer is simple: “The people and the babies.”
Visiting with what he calls his adopted grand babies — AKA the children of his regular customers who come in for their first cuts — is his favorite barber shop pastime. A baby’s first hair cut at Broad Street Barbers is always on the house.
Daniel Brooks has definitely had a long career, but he doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon.
“I hope to get to enjoy this for several more years,” Daniel says.
Oh, and in honor of their new neighbors at Hatchet Brewing Co., Broad Street Barbers is offering $2 off of cuts for new customers during the month of November.
We’re not sure if Daniel is on social media, but if you want to get to know him a little more, you know where to find him. He’ll greet you with a smile.
