One Kent barber is still snipping after 35 years
Story by Katie Phillips
Photos by Elliott Cramer
Emory Vance has worked at the barbershop for 35 years and has
owned it for 13 years.
Emory Vance brushes bits of hair off of his customer’s shoulders and spins the rotating chair around to face him for a final inspection.
The barber eyes the man’s hair critically, makes one last snip and rests his scissors on the rim of the white porcelain sink beside him, satisfied.
“You’re all set,” Vance says. His voice is soft, and his smile is kind. “Have a good day.”
The customer returns the broad smile as he eases himself out of the chair. “I’ll see you in a few weeks. My hair will be ready for another cut then.”
Vance waves as the door shuts, then turns to gaze at his shop.
“That’s what makes it good,” he says, with a slight southern twang ringing in his voice, “the old ones coming back.”
A Downtown TraditionOld and young alike, Vance’s customers have settled into a routine, relying on the sense of tradition their barber has instilled in his shop for the past 35 years.
The wrinkles have deepened and his hair now shines a silvery white, but the work ethic of this Kent barber remains constant.
“Emory is just one of those salt-of-the-earth kind of guys,” says Paul Braden, Vance’s landlord and the owner of Woodsy’s Music Audio Video Inc. “He walks to work and walks home to this day. He’s the first guy downtown every morning.”
“The décor is the exact same as Vance's first years as a barber”
Downtown for Vance is 147 S. Water St., the permanent location of Emory’s Barber Shop, a haven from the rebuilding and modernization of the city of Kent.
Walking into his shop gives a customer the sense of being thrown backwards in time. The décor is the exact same as Vance’s first years as a barber.
“I didn’t change anything,” Vance says, shrugging. “I didn’t think it was necessary.”
Mirrors line the walls, reflecting the four red-and-white antique barbershop chairs.
Antique barber chairs add to the atmosphere at Emory’s Barbershop.
“A lot of people talk about the chairs,” Vance beams, as if he and the furniture were old friends. “They have always been here.”
Locks of hair litter the floor, waiting to be swept up at the end of the workday. A chair for shoe shining rests along the back wall, with a frayed brush and spray on the footstool. Weathered war signs and other posters clutter the walls, fading into a yellowish tone from years of being taped up. His beloved plants line the front windows, making the shop even more welcoming.
“He loves his plants,” says Laura Marlow, a business neighbor at the Water Street Salon. “He gives people starters off of all his plants. He is just very quiet-mannered but very nice.”
The only obvious decorating difference from previous years is the addition of a framed photograph of Vance’s five grandchildren.
His shop has remained stable despite the several changes that have occurred in the community. Through the shop’s windows, he has watched as surrounding businesses have changed hands and closed, as his business urges on.
“Just about everything in town is different,” Vance says, pointing from behind the glass pane. “That used to be a grocery store. The next one there was a shoe store, that other one, where the bookstore is, it used to be a dress shop. One thirty-eight, there, that was a bar.”
A distant look passes over Vance’s face as he gets lost in his recollections.
“People used to come down here for shopping,” he says. “There’s not that many stores here now.”
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