Longtime local barber shop closing. Here’s what’s next for the site and the barbers

A longtime Tacoma barber shop that eventually made its way to Ruston is set to close for good, but the current barbers could move to a new location as soon as Monday (June 5).

Westgate Barber, on the bottom level of 5013 N. Pearl St., is ending operations May 31.

County records show the date of the building going back to 1983, but the shop itself goes back to the 1960s. The shop relocated a few years ago from its original setting in Tacoma’s Westgate shopping center area at 30th and Pearl streets.

Kandie Hong, one of the barbers, told The News Tribune on Tuesday she’d worked at the shop for 27 years and that the owner, who’d also worked there in years past, had since retired.

“It’s sad,” she said, “We have an awesome clientele here, almost like extended family.”

Hong said plans for the building involve expansion of the current business upstairs.

Mynx Aesthetik, which offers skincare and professional esthetic treatments, is above the barber shop.

Allie Corrigan-Luke, business manager for Mynx Aesthetik, told The News Tribune in a brief phone interview Tuesday, “We are looking at taking over the bottom area.”

The expansion could take a year or two, Corrigan-Luke added.

“Essentially, what we want to create is a community space, a space for wellness and inclusion. We’ve got a lot of really, really incredible plans for that area,” Corrigan-Luke said. “Basically, now we’re just in the process of getting focused and finishing up kind of what it’s going to look like.”

One longtime customer speculated with The News Tribune that the move from Westgate didn’t attract as many walk-ins for the barber shop as previously.

Reflecting on the barber shop’s history, Corrigan-Luke noted, “It’s understandable that folks are going to feel probably some type of way about it.”

One of Hong’s customers, Shep, who declined to give his last name, was at the shop Tuesday for a final haircut at the site. He estimated he’d been a customer for 15 to 20 years.

“When she doesn’t cut hair anymore, than I’ll become a hippie and grow my hair out,” Shep said.

Shep said he planned to follow Hong to the new site, where she said she’d work part-time to help co-worker Mike Yo, who is opening a new shop at 7008 Sixth Ave.

“It will be his shop. I’m going with him,” Hong said.

According to permits filed with the city of Tacoma, a 600-feet retail expansion is planned for the Sixth Avenue site, adding to an existing 2,600-square-foot retail building.

The Sixth Avenue property owner did not respond to an email seeking further information.