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In honor of Friendly Barber Shop’s 55^th anniversary, owner and barber Gene Fisher was interviewed for Tuesday’s edition of WIZS’ Town Talk.

Located at 1003 Nicholas Street in Henderson, both the shop and Fisher have been offering haircuts to residents since 1964. According to Fisher, the shop was located in a building across the street for six years before moving to its current location in 1970.

“Out of the 55 years, I’ve been here every day except for deaths, vacation and sickness,” Fisher reported.

Fisher said he has worked with many barbers over the years including Lou Pearce, Randolph Edwards and Dave Loughlin.

“We even had a couple of young boys that got in trouble with the law and Lou gave them a chance,” said Fisher. “They came over here and did a very good job before moving on to other fields.”

Of course, another change over the years has been the price of services. Fisher said haircuts were $1.25 when the shop first opened and slowly increased to $16 today.

When Town Talk host John Charles Rose, who was getting a haircut while interviewing Fisher, joked that the price of the shop’s soft drinks hasn’t increased in over 25 years, Fisher said he wasn’t in it for the money.

“I don’t care anything about making money. I just want to keep customers happy. I don’t want them to leave my chair until their hair is right,” said Fisher.

Fisher said the best part of his job is the great conversations he has with customers, “I just like to talk to people and to see how they are doing, how their families are doing, what church they go to and things like that.”

Fisher, who takes pride in his work and pride in his community, was asked how he felt about recent shootings in Vance County and offered these suggestions:

“I think it’s terrible. They need to put prayer back in school; that is one thing that will really help this country. I think they need to reestablish a draft system for all boys coming out of high school and require at least two years of service to cut down on the drug problems.”

With a sanitation grade of 100, 55 years of haircutting experience, good conversational skills and a dose of wisdom, Fisher and Friendly Barber Shop continue to serve the community.

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To hear Fisher’s Town Talk interview in its entirety, please click the play button below. Listen live to WIZS’ Town Talk Monday-Friday at 11 a.m. on 1450AM, 100.1 FM or online at www.wizs.com.