Ramone Pierce, OWNER OF BONEZ BARBER SHOP. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)

Ramone Pierce one of a few Black business owners on E. Carson

On Monday afternoon, Oct. 6, a man came into the Bonez Barber Shop on E. Carson Street, South Side. He owned a hair salon. He dropped off $100 at Bonez and said that he was supporting and standing with the barber shop.

Less than an hour later, a woman came into the barber shop. Unexpectedly, she paid for the haircuts for two kids she didn’t even know who were in the shop. She, too, said that she was standing with the barber shop, and that everything would be OK. She then blessed the owner, Ramone Pierce, and the barber shop as a whole.

“That brought me to tears,” Pierce told the New Pittsburgh Courier.

Ramone Pierce, OWNER OF BONEZ BARBER SHOP. (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)

Bonez Barber Shop, 1221 E. Carson St., was the scene of a deadly shooting, Saturday, Oct. 4. Two women who had a prior beef happened to be inside the shop at the same time. According to Pittsburgh Police, one of the women shot the other multiple times. 26-year-old Rayon Williams later died at UPMC Mercy Hospital.

25-year-old Myairah Carter has been charged with homicide.

Pierce, who was at the barber shop when the shooting occurred, told the Courier that he’s been receiving an outpouring of support from the community since the shooting, including the two people who came on Monday to show their support.

“So many phone calls and text messages,” Pierce told the Courier, Oct. 7. “Even our clients still coming to the shop is a major support. No one is in fear of coming to the barber shop.”

Pierce has repeatedly said that the incident was isolated, and had nothing to do with the shop itself. Pierce, who grew up in the South Side Flats, is a 2004 Carrick High School graduate, and told the Courier it was a dream come true to open his own barber shop in the community in which he was raised.

“I couldn’t believe it when I had the opportunity, and to be honest with you, I wasn’t fully ready,” Pierce said. “I just knew I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity. I had to take a leap of faith and do it.”

Pierce opened up Bonez Barber Shop in August 2023. He said of late, business has been amazing. “I couldn’t ask for a better career. More freedom in my job and being able to work and being my own boss, not have to answer to anybody, and be in the neighborhood that I grew up in.”

Pierce employs five additional barbers in the shop, a shop that’s open every day from, typically, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., excluding Tuesdays.

“Work doesn’t feel like work,” he told the Courier.

For Pierce, he’s one of just a few Black-owned businesses on East Carson Street. None of the nightclubs are Black-owned, and most of the restaurants are not Black-owned. Historically, it’s been a tough road for African Americans to sustain businesses in the South Side Flats.

Pierce’s message to all who’ve shown him support? “Thank you. I’m grateful, it’s humbling, I appreciate the opportunity that I’m given, and I don’t take it for granted.”