THE PLACE TO GO
For a Haircut and a shave
by Denise Sullivan
HURLEYVILLE, August 2022 — Need a haircut or a shave with a hot towel treatment? Main Street Barber and Beauty Shoppe is the place to go.
Le’Nard Williams has been in the barbering business for 35 years, the last five mostly at his Main Street Barber and Beauty Shoppe, located in the brightly painted Sullivan Dairy building at 206 Main Street in Hurleyville. The shop is open Tuesday through Saturday each week, and although appointments can be made by calling, walk-ins are welcome, an old barbershop tradition that Mr. Williams likes to keep.
Mr. Williams is friendly and compassionate, with a soothing voice and the patience that comes with being a good listener. These skills are the likely reason that he also cuts hair at many residences of The Center for Discovery (TCFD). He says TCFD residents like to visit the shop, with its colorful design and music playing. He was a mobile barber during the pandemic, doing pop-up barbering wherever people felt safe and comfortable. Now that COVID isolation has receded, many customers are back in the shop.
After graduating from Monticello High School, Mr. Williams learned the barbering trade on his own through experience and apprenticeship before taking the state board exam to become certified. In those days, you had to demonstrate skill and proficiency with a razor for hair in order to be licensed, he says. He worked in several Manhattan locations, and then had a shop on Main Street in South Fallsburg before coming to Hurleyville. He even cut hair in the SUNY Sullivan Field House for a while.
Mr. Williams regularly gets training and certificates for new trends in men’s services.
“The beard is back!” he says, and with so many fashionable beards and moustaches making a comeback, learning about current techniques and products is essential. Pictures of trendy moustaches with names like “The Oz”, and “Muscle Beach” appear on the cape his customers wear while getting a haircut or a shave.
Mr. Williams says his goal for the Main Street Barber and Beauty Shoppe is to find good reliable barbers and hair stylists. There is always an empty styling chair when he works, and more customers could be getting pampered and beautified if he had more help. Apprentices can work under his license, which provides on the kind of job training that he was able to benefit from back in his early barbering days.
With an eye toward the future, Mr. Williams has a dream to turn a shuttle bus into a mobile barber shop. He actually bought the vehicle from Rolling V, which already had the seats removed. Having the right professionals to work with could make it happen. Another idea he thinks about is the finished basement at his renovated location on Main Street. He says it would be perfect for a pet grooming business. Imagine making pampering appointments for both you and your dog, together?
Aside from his business sense and mastery of the electric clippers, Mr. Williams is also a licensed tattoo artist, and an accomplished painter/airbrush artist. His free hand, non-computerized designs are created with acrylics on clothing and sneakers. He’s a modern Renaissance man with a gentle nature.
The Main Street Barber and Beauty Shoppe, one more cool place in the happening hamlet of Hurleyville, is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The phone number for appointments is 845- 640 2394.