Wacky, wavy inflatable tube men get me to smile every time I drive by.<\/p>\n
Like carnival barkers of old, those flailing inflatables grab the attention of passersby and suggest there\u2019s something inside they won\u2019t want to miss.<\/p>\n
While driving through the city this week, I was entertained by two fan\u2011powered, barbershop\u2011themed Air Dancers \u2014 one on North Fifth Street and another on Schuylkill Avenue. Neither corridor is exactly hurting for barbershops or styling salons.<\/p>\n
I counted seven barbershops and salons in the 200 and 300 blocks of North Fifth alone. You could call that stretch \u201cBarbershop Row.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are plenty of reasons behind this concentration of barbers and beauticians.<\/p>\n
For one, barber schools are enrolling aspiring stylists in nearly every corner of the city: Reading Barber Institute at 810 Oley St.; American Barber and Beauty Academy at 733 Lancaster Ave.; and Berks Barber School \u2014 formerly Charlie G. Haynes Barber School \u2014 at 432 Schuylkill Ave. Just north of the city, Empire Beauty School offers cosmetology training and a salon at 2302 N. Fifth Street in Muhlenberg Township.<\/p>\n
Many graduates naturally aspire to open their own shop after renting a chair elsewhere and earning their chops.<\/p>\n
Storefront availability at an affordable price is another major factor in the clustering of hair shops on North Fifth. If you\u2019re opening a barbershop, you want a highly visible location near other businesses \u2014 a place where your fa\u00e7ade can catch the eye and walk\u2011ins feel welcome.<\/p>\n
Fifth Street has that traditional Main Street feel, unlike corridors such as Washington Street, which decades ago were converted into one\u2011way thoroughfares designed more for cars than pedestrians.<\/p>\n
Fifth Street also has metered parking on both sides. No one wants to park in a multilevel garage for a haircut. You want to be close enough to see your car \u2014 and the approaching parking\u2011authority meter checker.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a net positive that so many stylists are investing in small businesses downtown, filling storefronts that might otherwise sit empty. But not all of these start\u2011ups survive. Behind some barber poles sit a vacant shop.<\/p>\n
The two\u2011block stretch is a mix of sturdy row homes \u2014 many converted to apartments \u2014 along with office buildings and churches. The potential for a meaningful economic revival is easy to see.<\/p>\n
The most prominent structure is the Depression\u2011era Medical Arts Building at 230 N. Fifth. Designed by Frederick A. Muhlenberg, founder of Muhlenberg Greene Architects, the Art Deco high\u2011rise once housed doctors and dentists. Mostly vacant since the 1980s, it\u2019s on the home stretch of a multiyear renovation by Schuman Development Group, transforming it into luxury apartments and retail space.<\/p>\n
The Medical Arts Building will include 55 offices, a first\u2011floor pharmacy, and a coffee shop in the basement.<\/p>\n
On the not\u2011too\u2011distant horizon, prospective barbershop owners may find it harder to secure a storefront on North Fifth.<\/p>\n
And that would be a sign of progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wacky, wavy inflatable tube men get me to smile every time I drive by. Like carnival barkers of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,1559,1560,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-261105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-opinion","tag-opinion-columnists","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}