RANDY'S BARBER SHOP

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:30)

During the years I was a student at Springfield, Missouri’s Central Bible College (the late 1970s), I used to get my hair cut at Don Mullins’ Barber Shop, which at the time was located on North Grant Ave. Don Mullins was a very talkative and entertaining Ozarks native who must have been in his mid-fifties at the time. The second chair at Don Mullins’ shop was manned by a slim and quiet young barber named Randy. That barber shop drew an interesting mix of blue-collar workers, Bible college students, and even Assemblies of God national leaders. I always got good haircuts there.

The Don Mullins’ Barber Shop closed up long ago, but the Springfield telephone directory listed a “Randy’s Barber Shop” on West Division Street. This past Thursday I needed a haircut, and since I was still in Springfield, Missouri, I decided to check the place out. The parking situation on West Division Street is pretty dismal. I decided to park at the Price Cutter supermarket on North Grant and walk the five or six minutes over to Randy’s Barber Shop. The old Don Mullins shop was kind of fancy and a little upscale looking, much like Collotta’s in Framingham where I usually get my hair cut. Randy’s Barber Shop is a small, simple building which definitely could use an exterior paint job.

Walking in, I found a simple two-chair barber shop which looked a little like something from the Norman Rockwell era. THERE was RANDY! Yes, the same Randy that worked for Don Mullins only thirty years older! I learned that Randy’s son usually covers the second chair, but had rushed home to attend to a problem with his dogs. I had remembered Randy as quiet, but now he was much more talkative; almost as talkative as Don Mullins used to be. I had a good time reconnecting with Randy the barber and talking about the past. He told me Don Mullins had died of lung cancer. He fondly remembered his days at Don Mullins barber shop and recalled that they had many Central Bible College students as customers.

I was pleased to have received an excellent haircut at a very low price! Randy’s Barber Shop is located only a few blocks from the Assemblies of God national headquarters. I’d recommend it to any guys who live in Springfield, Missouri. Barber shops are still great places to connect with people!