Rural Routes: Dennis Brown relaxes in second career with one-man barber shop in Olive Branch

Editor’s Note: Rural Routes is an ongoing photo feature series about Southeast Missouri residents.

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. — At a glance, it would be easy to mistake Dennis Brown’s one-man barber shop for a small shed.

From the outside, a small barber’s pole is one of the only indications of haircutting activity at the location. There’s no big sign out front, and the closest thing to a parking lot is a small patch of gravel.

Stepping inside, however, there’s no mistaking the one-room establishment as anything but a barber shop. While his location is smaller than most, Brown’s barber shop doesn’t need much space.

In one corner of the shop, a spacious, cushioned barber chair occupies almost half of the room. Hanging to one side of the chair are what you would expect to find at a barber shop — multiple combs, clippers and bottles of barbicide.

Dennis Brown's barber shop is seen Friday in Olive Branch, Illinois.BEN MATTHEWS

The rest of the shop, however, looks unlike any other barber shop. Nearly every inch of wall space is covered with seemingly random items, including multiple mounted hunting trophies, more than a dozen hats, various framed photos and antique barber supplies.

“It’s just stuff that has been given to me and I’ve had over the years,” Brown said. “It doesn’t mean anything to anyone but me.”

One of the best examples of Brown’s meaningful personal items is a full-size, cushioned church pew, which reaches nearly from wall to wall inside the shop. Brown sat in the pew for 16 years at Lake Milligan Baptist Church, until the church closed.

A 21-inch-long duck call hangs from a shelf above the shop mirror. Hanging next to it, a calendar from 1938.

While Brown clearly values his barber shop, he will be the first to tell you he isn’t in the business for the money.

Originally from Pulaski County, Brown graduated high school and moved to Detroit where he earned a living as a truck driver transporting automobiles across the country. It wasn’t until his retirement when Brown began pursuing a dream to have his own barber shop.

After moving to Southern Illinois with his wife, Brown began nine months of barber school in Cape Girardeau to obtain his license.

“I know for a fact that I was the oldest man to go to the barber school,” Brown said. “Here I am, 56 years old. I fit in, I guess, because I got along well with all of them.”

His business sits off Highway 3, tucked away in the corner of a neighborhood in Olive Branch. A small sign in the window shows the barber shop open three days a week — from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and from 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays.

Brown said he doesn’t do many haircuts, but the part-time career as a barber helps him fight boredom. When not cutting hair, he has a large recliner next to a window where he reads books. Currently, he’s making his way through “Big Horn Legacy,” a western novel by W. Michael Gear.

As his literary preferences lean toward stories of times gone by, his lifestyle preferences do the same.

“One-man barber shops are a thing of the past,” Brown said. “You’ve got your factory barber shops like Sports Clips and Mastercuts, and they do it on a mass-scale. I don’t really care if I get a haircut or not. I have a lot of guys just come sit in here and talk.”

The atmosphere in Brown’s barber shop adequately reflects that mentality. The shop’s intimate space and personal decorations create an air of relaxation more than anything.

“I don’t get in no hurry about nothing,” Brown said. “I’m too old to get in a hurry.”

His customers are walk-ins and he doesn’t do appointments. His haircutting philosophies are equally simple.

“I’ve got two styles — I’ve got short and shorter.”