NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Goodbyes are never easy, especially after five decades but the owner here at the Plaza Barber Shop says it's hard when clients become family.
The Plaza Barbershop in Donelson has been standing for more than 50 years. The store may have changed and moved a few hundred feet in that time but what remained the same is the people inside.
Bud Simmons has been cutting hair since he was 19-years-old. His wife, son and daughter in the business right beside him.
Simmons says it was the job God wanted him to do but it's now time to say goodbye.
"I've always told people is that, that God created man and he said, Alright, I'm going to create a job right here for the rest of his life. I'm gonna let them have hair on their head and somebody's gonna have to straighten his hair and make it look good," said Simmons.
Simmons says for months he tried to call the corporate office for Kroger about his lease which expired in April.
He says he could never get anyone to return his calls and when his lease was finally up and still no news from Kroger, he and his family figured it was time to pack up.
The news hitting his loyal customers hard and many of them called the grocery store chain in hopes of saving the business.
Simmons says he finally heard back last week, there was an offer to renew but it came too late.
Customers came in for one last haircut and to say goodbye.
"It is so sad to know that after all these years, that all the people that we've had that's come in as customers and everything, we never treated these people as customers, we treated them as our family. "
Simmons says COVID-19 affected them as well and played a factor in the closing.
