AUSTIN, Texas — After more than 60 years, Wooten Barber Shop on Guadalupe Street is closing, according to a report from The Daily Texan.
The barber shop, which has remained mostly unchanged since it first opened on "The Drag" in 1964, will reportedly cease operations by June 15. The reason? New student housing plans.
The Daily Texan reports that in July 2018, student housing developer American Campus Communities purchased a block on Guadalupe Street across from the University of Texas that included Wooten Barber Shop. The report states that, according to the Texas State Historical Association, the block was previously a real estate investment of the Wooten family and home to the Goodall Wooten Dormitory.
American Campus Communities plans to renovate the entire block by building new student housing with retail shops on the ground floor. According to The Daily Texan, Alante Salon and Teji's Indian are the only other active businesses on the block that may have to shut down.
The report states that when American Campus Communities bought the block on Guadalupe Street in 2018, businesses there had to finish their existing leases before renovations could begin. James Nelson, barber and owner of Wooten Barber Shop, told The Daily Texan that since the expiration of the shop's old lease, it has been operating on a month-to-month lease.
The report states that American Campus Communities has made verbal agreements to lease the shop a retail location on the same block after renovations are complete, but Nelson said no actual contract or lease renewal offer has been made.
Nelson told The Daily Texan that he is planning on transferring the shop's ownership to another employee and he is searching for an alternative location to keep Wooten Barber Shop alive.
"We’d like to have the Wooten, or 'The Woo,' continue," Nelson said. "It’s bittersweet in that it’s not ending in the way I would like to."
Wooten Barber Shop's closure isn't the only potential change coming to The Drag thanks to planned development.
KVUE recently reported that last December, UT bought the property at 2001 Guadalupe Street and, earlier this year, the university notified business owners that their leases would be ending a year earlier than originally listed. Now the owners of Poke Bay and Kung Fu Tea say they're unsure what their futures will look like.
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