Having Billy Packer as a client is probably not a barber shop’s dream endorsement.
About 10 years ago, the CBS basketball commentator was in Salt Lake City to cover early rounds of the NCAA tournament. On the air, Packer said he noticed the Dollar Barber Shop near campus and dropped in for a quick trim before tip-off.
“We get a lot of everybody?college students, doctors, business men,” said owner Howard Hinckley.
The two Dollar Barber Shops were around before most U students were born. Hinckley was a U student aspiring to be a dentist, and he cut hair to earn money for school. After only one year on the job, he decided to strike it on his own and opened the Dollar Barber Shop on 1700 East in 1960.
“It started as a part-time deal,” Hinckley said, “then I cut more hair, and more hair, and more hair… I started making quite a bit of money.”
Hinckley gave up the dentistry plans, but said he still thinks about it sometimes. With his success in business, Hinckley didn’t give any hint of remorse.
“I have 22-units [apartments] I rent out,” he said.
If your hairstyle is fairly simple, the Dollar shop is a convenient place to get a haircut. It’s close to campus and the wait is usually short. I’ve rarely waited more than 10 minutes. At the 500 South 1150 E. location, the customers take a number. In the 700 East and 679 S. shop, you sit near the barber you like and wait until your turn.
The cost is $4 for most men’s haircuts and $6 for women’s. However, I can’t remember ever seeing a woman getting their haircut there. Many of my friends are surprised that I’d get my haircuts at the Dollar shops. Shampoos and blowdrys are not available, and some people might miss the tony and clinical environment of a salon; but at half the cost of the other franchise places, I save a lot in the course of a year.
Although barbers come and go at the shop, many have stayed for several years. One told me he likes being around the college kids and can always spot them?always in a hurry and hair a little unkempt, he said. Some of the barbers said even though it’s a less glamorous environment, the total income is better there than at other shops because the traffic is higher.
“Some of these girls make a lot of money,” Hinckley said. “Some get $60 to $70 in tips a day.”
Hinckley said the shop cut hair for a dollar for 13 years before it incrementally increased it to $4. (For a while, you could still see the former prices under the new paint on the wall). There have been other dollar shops around town, but Hinckley said you’d see “a world of difference” between quality of his shops’ haircuts and that of the others.
Besides rental properties, Hinckley has ventured into other businesses. Next to the 700 East shop, there is the Sta-Tan tanning salon, which Hinckley opened in 1980. It charges $3 for a 25-minute session. But Hinckley said he does not advertise much for the tanning salon.
“We encourage gringos not to come in,” said Hinckley, a gringo himself. “It just gives them skin cancer.”