Defiant barbershop owner to reopen Friday — Warned by Hoover Police, but says alternative is going permanently out of business

This could signify the first breach in the dam, so to speak, of Alabama’s mandatory shutdown of non-essential businesses by the state government.

The Male Room, a barbershop located in the Inverness neighborhood in North Shelby County, announced Tuesday night on Facebook it was reopening its business in defiance of the state order and accepting appointments for Friday and beyond. According to the post, extraordinary precautions would be taken given the threat of the COVID-19/coronavirus.

Thursday, The Male Room’s proprietor Scott Farr explained the decision during an interview with Birmingham radio’s Talk 99.5.

“The effort is to try to get people collectively to join in this fight because a lot of us out here believe our livelihoods are just as important as anything else,” Farr said. “And essentially, the criteria for me was no more complicated than I’ve got finite resources remaining, and I’ve got ongoing expenses. So, it’s a simple math calculation to tell me how many days I’ve got left before I shutter the doors for good, and there are a lot of people that depend on the business for their livelihood. That’s really all it is. It’s no more complicated than that.”

Farr acknowledged a haircut was non-essential but added that it was a difficult premise to sell to his employees, who were still waiting to receive aid promised from the federal government.

He also urged his critics to be skeptical of those claiming it was a “life or death” situation concerning economic activity and the coronavirus and noted that despite that, he was taking precautions including making customers wait in their automobiles until it was their time for a haircut and limiting his business’ capacity.

“[T]he information is not as solid as we’re being led to believe by some,” Farr said. “There’s a lot of misinformation afoot. And I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy afoot. I’m not saying any of that. All I’m saying is there are people who want to get back to work, who feel we can get back to work in a controlled environment, and if you’ve seen the measures we’re taking, that adds a level of expense to what we’re trying to do. This is not about profit, for God’s sakes. This is about just getting back operational so we can all learn to deal with this new reality that’s going to happen here in the next who-knows-how-long — one month, two weeks, whatever it is going to be. Some people are saying six months. When are going to be allowed to open back up.”

Farr said he had been warned by Hoover Police and urged not to open. He added that they had made him aware of the ramifications of violating the state order but said the alternative was permanent closure.

However, he laid out issues where the government could be violating some guaranteed rights and liberties.

“Not to get political — but it’s civil liberties, private property rights here, and the designation of ‘essential,'” he explained. “I guess it has become vogue for government to selectively enforce laws. And this is a good illustration of it, not in Alabama specifically, but you’ve got these cannabis stores — those are essential. Liquor stores are essential. It’s the silliest thing, and again — you can’t expect government to be perfect in their execution because they’re trying to manage all of this stuff.”

“[L]et the free market decide how we’re going to open this thing and let’s get back to work,” he added.

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.