While many historic buildings have come and gone in Charlotte’s center city, Latta Arcade, an indoor shopping mall known for its grand glass ceiling and charming storefronts, has stood the test of time.
Built in 1914, the Arcade is nestled in uptown’s French Quarter. It includes restaurants, a shoeshine stand, and the Arcade Men’s Room — a family-owned barbershop that has called Latta Arcade home for nearly 50 years. But now, its owner says the shop faces an uncertain future.
Reagan Taylor Banik says she fears the business is being pushed out due to impending changes by the building’s owner.
On this busy Friday afternoon, business is booming inside Arcade Men’s Room. It's so busy, in fact, the only way to escape the noise of hair dryers and chirps of snipping scissors is to retreat to the back of the shop — the shampoo room.
Banik stands in what she calls "476 square feet of history."
Her father Cecil Taylor took over the barbershop in 1974, but this storefront has been a barbershop for 107 years.
A broken hip forced her father into early retirement. Fortunately, Banik was there to take the reins in 2020.
In the history of this space being a barbershop, she is the ninth owner and the first female owner. Officially she’s been working since she was about 19 years old, but her history here goes much deeper.
"I ran around here as a little girl," Banik said with a smile. “There wasn't very much shopping anywhere and mom would bring us up here. But to be specific, I guess Aug. 4 of '96 is when I came to work here. I went to barber school for nine months and dad said, 'I need you. Come on up!'"
Sherry Persinger is a barber who has worked at the shop for more than two decades.
"We appreciate her for carrying on her daddy's legacy," Persinger said of Banik. “If it wasn't for her, he (would've closed) the doors at COVID because we struggled. We never gave up. We kept fighting and we're still fighting today to keep it going."
Persinger is the unofficial historian of the business. She points to an old sign hanging on the wall that reads Barbershop. She says it hung in the shop’s back alley during Prohibition to signal that bootlegged alcohol was available.
There’s the original cash register — which still works. Then there are the old-school chairs that go up and down by a hand pump. Customers can ask for a facial or straight razor shave.
Banik and the staff take pride in the tradition of barbering. And it’s what keeps customers coming back.
There's a longtime client of Taylor's who moved from Charlotte to Atlanta but drives back monthly from Georgia to have Persinger cut his hair.
"He moved to Atlanta to be close to his grandchildren," Persinger said. "Every four weeks on Saturday at 2 o'clock, I've got Larry."
Kevin Carney has been coming to the shop for more than 20 years. He brought his son here when he was little.
"It’s more than just getting your haircut — it’s like a piece of Charlotte," Carney said. "You look around the space and I could probably tell you half of the drawings or photos or little tchotchkes that are on the wall just because I've been looking at it for so long, for 20 years. And so it would be a shame to see any of that nostalgia walk away."
He's referencing the news Banik has reluctantly started to share with customers. Last month, she received a note from the property manager asking if they would move the shop to the upper level of the building. The building has a beautiful marble staircase, but no elevator. Moving the business to the upper level is not a realistic or reasonable option, she says.
"They’ve asked us to move a 107-year-old barbershop upstairs — that's not handicap accessible. There's no foot traffic. Hopefully, they will reconsider," she said. "But I had to tell them that taking the shop out of here is like taking down the Arcade. Businesses have come and gone. But this place has always made it through all of these eras, including now COVID."
Banik says they’ve been told by management there is a new vision for the building that includes a food court. But besides that, she says, there’s been little communication as to how the barbershop fits into this new plan. The shop hasn’t been given an eviction date, but this uncertain limbo is uncomfortable for many reasons. And Banik says she’s made it clear that they can’t move upstairs, but have yet to hear a response as to what comes next.
WFAE reached out to the property manager as well as the building owner’s owner — Chicago-based Northpond Partners but did not hear back before our deadline.
This possible upheaval has customers and other barbers on edge.
"Anything old has a lot of stories," said Tyi Watson, an Arcade Men’s Room barber. "It's been here a long time. The people who have been coming here have been coming for a long time. So it's just like family."
Cecil Taylor was the one who hired her she points out, and he was the one who taught her how to cut hair with a razor.
His photo is everywhere. Not in an egotistical way, but to keep his presence and work ethic in mind, especially since he can’t be here because of his hip.
They clearly miss him. And the feeling is mutual.
"I would still be there today at 76," Taylor said. "Barbers don't ever retire. They just fade away."
Sitting in a patio chair in the front yard of his home, he speaks slowly and with reflection. His well-curated mustache rises as he talks.
Taylor was cutting hair as a young man when he served in the Navy. He was known for giving a good cut that wasn’t a military haircut but still looked professional. Taylor said he even cut his captain's hair.
"His wife would call me and tell me how to cut her husband's hair," he said. "The captain would come in and say 'Ceil, I know my wife's called to tell you how to have to cut my hair, but you cut it the way I tell you.'"
After serving in Vietnam in 1969, he went to work at The Arcade Barber Shop. When he bought the business he changed the name to the Arcade Men’s Room as a way to attract men with long hair, which was in style at the time. He didn’t want customers to worry about getting a cut that was too short. Everyone and every style was welcome.
He has a lot of pride when he talks about his daughter and how she stepped up to run the shop in his absence. But now he worries about the stress and pressure on her shoulders as the barbershop faces an uncertain future.
"I hate to see it end — never thought it would," he said. "There’s always been a need for a place and a haircut. I'm just disappointed that it ends like this for Reagan because she would have carried it on. People come there, they don’t bounce around."
Back at the barbershop, that same thought weighs heavily on Banik's mind. Her family’s legacy is on the line. She works under that pressure as she moves on to her next customer and begins to artfully snip strands of hair to the floor.
"Some close their eyes and they relax," she said. "People share things with you … they have their 30 minutes to share things going on in their life and kind of it's like a therapy."
She smiles. They have a motto: The conversation is $30, the haircut is free.
But as uncertainty hangs over the barbershop, she wonders how many more haircuts she’ll give in this space. How much longer will she be a trusted ear for her customers? How much longer, she wonders, will her family call Latta Arcade home?
Special thanks to the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room for archival access and help with fact-checking.
