ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — August is National Black Business Month so over the next few weeks ABC Action News will highlight different Black-owned businesses in the Bay Area. I stopped by Central Station Barbershop and Grooming in St. Petersburg where they place an emphasis on childhood literacy.
“We have a safe space here,” said Antonio Brown, owner of Central Station Barbershop and Grooming. He is passionate about cutting hair. Each client is a new canvas for him to perform a transformation that’ll boost their self-esteem as they go back out in the world.
“This is a place where a barber and a client have an opportunity to have one-on-one time,” said Brown.
Brown worked at six other barbershops before deciding to bet on himself by opening his own nine years ago. I asked him what inspired him to open his own shop.
“Seeing the things that were impacting our community, I understood the importance of ownership and entrepreneurship and different things like that. So, I wanted to step out on my own and build my own reputation and my own barbershop my way,” he told me.
As a barber, he knows the influence he has on the community, which is why he’s doing his part to increase the literacy rate in Black and brown children.
While I was at the shop, I saw one kid reading a book about Fredrick Douglass and another kid reading about Stevie Wonder. “I have a program I started about eight years ago that has children coming in and reading to the barber while they get their hair cut,” explained Brown.
Over the past nine years, his shop has built quite a loyal clientele and he employs three other barbers to help with the demand.
I asked Brown about the trials and tribulations he faced as a business owner. “When you’re building something from the ground up and, you know, not seeing anybody do it before you, not having examples or any blueprint,” said Brown.
He said the first year was the hardest and that he spent several days at the shop from sunup to sundown, but he believed in his dream and continued to persevere.
As for the best piece of business advice he’s received, he said a positive mindset goes a long way.
“The days are basically what you make them. If you wake up with a positive attitude and you manifest positive things in your life, those things will eventually come to fruition,” said Brown.
