Downtown Business Spotlight: Cain's Barber Shop

Yesterday, I dropped in to this little retail shop on Lucerne - definitely rates high on the "charming" meter.

I had the pleasure of having my hair cut by Malcolm Cain, 77 who has being doing business in our downtown area for 50 years.  He plans on working as long as he feels as good as he does.  As he did his work, we talked about the downtown and the changes over the years.

His first shop in Lake Worth was in the location of the current CVS drugstore, across from the current City Hall.  I asked about how his clientele has changed over the years and he said that he used to cut a lot more children's hair - local Lake Worth families getting their haircut during the tail-end of the Baby Boom generation.  This was also the time before I-95 and our US Highway 1 was the ONLY way - that and 441 - to go north and south in south Florida.  He remembers Fountains - the downtown department store - and the time where we had two cafeterias.  He has been at his current location for about 10 years.

He said that he weathered the Great Recession fairly well, but that this past summer was the slowest that he can ever remember.  He figures about 1/3 of his business now comes from the condo-dwellers (oh oh - WATCH OUT - high-rise residents!) - after all, his is the first barber shop after coming off the bridge and an easy right-hand side of the street location.  I asked if he thought the Lucerne had a positive or negative impact to the downtown - and he said it was hard to say.  He does know that some residents there park on the street, alongside their building and leave their cars there all day long - ignoring the four hour limit - which we both agreed is going unenforced now - however, that may be changing.  He thought, and suggested that other traditional retail shops downtown, would prefer an enforced two-hour limit on parking, but he thinks that the bars and restaurants have lobbied for the universal four-hour limit in the downtown.

All-in-all, a nice visit with - and a great haircut from - a spectator and participant of our downtown's history in this historically significant year for the city.  Thank you Malcolm Cain!