Barber shop's seats will soon slide into history

ST. PETERSBURG (FOX 13) - The chairs in a barber shop are as American as apple pie, but the old chairs at Tim's Barber Shop in St. Petersburg are about to move into retirement.  

Tim bought the barber shop in 1998 with the chairs in it. He says the chairs date back to 1926, when the shop first opened on what’s now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street.

"I have mixed emotions about changing chairs, but the old ones don't recline," explained Tim.  He says he wants to offer customers hot towel and hot lather shaves, which are easier with reclining chairs.

He's purchased the new chairs, which he expects to arrive in the coming days. Tim says he expects the four old chairs to end up with collectors. He says he's already received several offers from people who want to buy the chairs.

Dennis McDaniel has been a customer at the shop for 30 years and has sat in the old chairs many times. "I really have no criticism, they're very comfortable," he offered. "I wouldn't know what a new chair would feel like."  

He'll find out when he comes in for his next haircut, when this shop has new barber chairs for the first time in nearly a century.