For 37 years, the pepper-haired man with the oval spectacles has been cutting Gators’ hair. Because of tough times – or maybe in spite of them – Jay Jarrell, 59, moved his Reitz Union Barber Shop to a smaller space about the size of his old waiting area. Before the move, he said, he was barely treading water.
“The last ten years have been a real struggle to break even,” he said.
He anticipates the new space, which opened Monday, will be better for business.
He’d been asking the Reitz Union management for a smaller place for some time, and when the old Freshens spot opened up, he jumped on it. The space is smaller than he would’ve liked, but “you can’t pick and choose space like that in a building like this.”
Jarrell has significant ties to the Gator nation. He graduated with a degree in psychology, his son and daughter were Gators and his parents were season ticket holders. He hopes that his grandchildren will attend UF as well.
He likes cutting students’ hair because they’re bright and have a clear way of communicating what they want.
He’s been a barber for a long time, and his job provides him with the means to live, but what he does doesn’t define him or his happiness.
“Some people say you have to love what you do to be a happy person, but I’m just not convinced,” he said.
For him, the simple things are enough. He loves his church and his hobbies. The first haircut he gave in the new space was to his 8-month-old grandson.
His dad always told him that as a barber he may not always have steak, but he’d always have hamburger.
He wants to cut his hours when he turns 67. Sometimes he’s on his feet for 10 hours a day, and he knows he can’t work like that forever. For now, he’s enjoying the smaller workload of the new space and the financial ease – the rent is $375 now, $1,525 less than before.
“If I’m blessed enough to be in good health, I’d work until I’m 72 or so,” he said, “at which time I’d like to be able to shoot my age in golf.”
