Beech Tree News Network

"It's a whole lot easier to work together than to compete," says Rich Ellis, a new barber to Reed's Barber Shop. This was the driving force behind Ellis' decision to leave The Razor's Edge and join forces with Reed House. Tuesday was the first day that Ellis and House worked together at Reed's and they seemed to be enjoying every minute of it.

Ellis and House have been toying with the idea of working together for the past several years and took the first opportunity to do so.

"We thought it over and should have done it a long time ago," said House, "Richie came in and asked me about it and it just hit me at the right time."

"When I came back to barbering a few years ago, I talked to Reed about working with him and he just didn't know yet. It was a big decision and we've just been playing it by ear since," said Ellis.

The advantages to working together are already evident to House and Ellis. The shop will now be open every day, except Sunday, and will no longer be closed during lunch. House says this will be more convienient for their customers since the shop will be open and running all day. House also said that having two men woking could help eliminate any wait time for customers. Ellis added that if one of the men needed to take off, there would be no need for the shop to close.

"It will also be a lot easier to make improvements to the shop," added Ellis. "It won't be so much of a cost to either one of us. Instead of one of us having to buy something, say it's new chairs, he would be out double what he will be out now that we're together."

Reed's Barber Shop is located in Ashley Plaza and is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. House and Ellis invite everyone over to see the new look at Reed's Barber Shop.