Jim Morrison, Tupac Shakur, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles adorn the walls of Floyd’s Barbershop.
Starting Sunday, the downtown salon will have something in common with these iconic musicians: They’ll just be memories to students.
After five years of snipping, coloring and styling, Floyd’s will relocate from College Park to Crofton amidst complaints of high rent and an inability to keep up with transient students.
“The truth is the rent was way over the market,” owner Anne O’Brien said. “The students are gone four months out of the year. And it’s hard to draw in the locals.”
With alternative rock blaring from the speakers and a pair of pool tables in tow, Floyd’s more resembles a nightclub than a salon. And many students were disappointed to hear the news of its departure.
“Personally, I understand why it’s closing,” freshman economics major Sid Patel said yesterday, as he sat in the barbershop’s waiting area. “People don’t want to pay a little more.”
Though freshman business major Sylvian Roux is only in his first year, he is well versed in the cruelty of the revolving door of downtown businesses.
“This is the best place to get a haircut,” Roux said. “They actually know what they’re doing.”
Floyd’s is located in a strip of stores owned by Greenhill Capital Corporation known as Terrapin Station. The area is no stranger to turnover. Just this semester, two businesses have closed on the strip. The only businesses that have been constant over the five-year span have been T-Mobile and Quizno’s — though even the sub shop has changed ownership during the span.
“He’s just churning and burning people,” O’Brien said of the landlord.
But Richard Greenberg, a representative of Greenhill, contended that high rent wasn’t the main cause of Floyd’s exit.
“The landlord was more than willing and reasonable in our efforts to work with Floyd’s barbershop,” Greenberg wrote in an e-mail. “The ultimate decision to not exercise their option was based on the seasonal business in a college town.”
O’Brien said she wished the city would step in and help businesses gain a firmer footing downtown but understood that it’s above their capabilities.
“It’s an issue but it’s not a huge issue,” District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin said. “We wish it could be more stable, but that’s out of our hands.”
Other business owners, such as Kiyoko Express owner Morgan Gale, seemed to side with O’Brien.
“It is a continuing struggle,” Gale said of surviving in College Park. “It centers around parking and availability. There’s no critical core downtown.”
Last year, the city built a parking garage equipped to hold 288 cars. Kiyoko Express is also owned by Greenhill and Gale said the landlord is “not helpful” when it comes to communicating with area businesses.
Gale was late paying the rent in August of last year and instead of receiving a phone call or note, he was issued a summons to appear in court.
“It sets a tone for a difficult working relationship,” he said.
rhodes@umdbk.com
