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Town 'N Country Shop Spends Decades On Cutting Edge

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 9, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Richard Jorge's hands seem to work on instinct - an instinct born of cutting hair for more than 40 years.

The Tampa native, owner of RJ's Barber Shop at 7744 W. Hillsborough Ave., learned the tools of his trade early.

Jorge said his father, Albert, told him to find a trade when he was still a teenager.

"How about a barber?" he had asked his father. The elder Jorge agreed.

Jorge first opened a one-chair shop on South MacDill Avenue in the mid-1960s. "I paid $350 for it," he said.

After four years he purchased his current place, which had been a barber shop since 1954. His brother, Jimmy, joined him several years later. Now, six barbers, including two women, are busy at work clipping, combing and shaving.

The brothers prefer giving traditional haircuts and shaves, but all six barbers have kept pace with current styles. A daily stream of clients attests to the shop's success.

Both brothers admit that at the end of a day the barbershop is about more than a shaved pate or clipped beard.

"After a while, the customers become like family," said Jimmy Jorge. "I don't think any other profession has this."

Elaine Markowitz

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