Commercial Appeal article by columnist Mark Giannotto - Dec. 21, 2022

Men's Haircuts by Natilee is gone and so is the downtown Memphis it represents

The last haircut was done, so Natilee Ashworth swept the floor one last time.

She had never been the sentimental type, and never assumed she would be on the day she closed Men's Haircuts by Natilee for good. But it occurred to her that a 28-year career was over, and she started looking around this 400-square-foot room, off an alleyway in the back corner of the historic Falls Building.

There was the 60-year-old barber chair, next to the 60-year-old ceramic sinks and the 60-year cabinets. There were the photos of Elvis and Steve McQueen that she picked as wall decor. There were the leather chairs where some of the most powerful men in Memphis sat waiting for her because of the life she created for herself, in a part of town she loved.

There were memories, some conjured up for the first time in a long time thanks to the parade of people who came to say goodbye the best way they knew how – by getting one of Ashworth's $16 haircuts.

"I'm exhausted," she finally admitted. "If this area had not changed and the building hadn’t been sold, I would feel really, really terrible. I’d really be second guessing it because I’d realize how busy I actually am and how much these guys are going to miss me."

An 'endearing' throwback to the past

The story of how Ashworth reached her decision is a real-time glimpse into what downtown Memphis used to be, and what it’s becoming.

Her business was still thriving. She had more than 400 regular clients.

Mayor Jim Strickland and Memphis Grizzlies president Jason Wexler have been devoted regulars for years, long before they assumed their current public-facing positions. Former Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown, Congressman David Kustoff and renowned musician Wayne Jackson were among the many notable Memphis men who got their haircuts from her. Former Grizzlies assistant Bob Thornton swore the team always won whenever he got a haircut from Ashworth.

I started going to her about five years ago, after seeing terrific reviews online. The haircuts were good, and took no more than 15 minutes.

It was one chair, one pair of scissors, one razor and Ashworth’s steady stream of conversation. It was an optimistic mix of tales she heard from other customers, and the politics of the moment.

"These guys will tell you," Ashworth said, "I have my opinions."

But they were all punctuated by her infectious laugh. It was one of those shops where, after you go once, you don’t need to tell her what to do because Ashworth knew what you wanted. Sit down and she would just start talking.

“There’s a consistency to it that’s endearing and doesn’t really exist in many other facets of your life like it used to be,” said Wexler, who started going to Ashworth more than 25 years ago when he moved to Memphis and worked as a lawyer at The Falls Building. “It’s one of those last permanent routines that hasn’t been overtaken by technology or mass market experience.”

But Ashworth, 61, moved to Florida earlier this month, to be closer to her son and to start a mobile haircutting business around Santa Rosa Beach. She had been thinking about it for years, and then a New York-based developer bought the Falls Building last May.

What began in 1902 as an office building for cotton merchants along the Mississippi River, and then an office building full of lawyers, and an office building with a first floor barber shop for the past 60 years, was going to be converted into apartments. Just like the old Raymond James building down Front Street, just like so many downtowns across the country, it was turning into a place to live rather than a place to work.

Ashworth's new landlords told her she would have to move. She knew that meant her rent would go up, which in turn meant the price of her haircut would go up, and that just seemed untenable. Her no frills approach was at the core of her success.

“It wouldn’t be the same,” Ashworth said. “I liked it business district over here. I don’t know. It just seemed so alive in the day.”

Ashworth opened Men’s Haircuts by Natilee in 1994 after stints at the airport barber shop and the old King’s Den in the basement of the Peabody Hotel. Long story short – remember, these haircuts only last 15 minutes – she wound up taking over what used to be Oscar’s Barber Shop in an alley previously known as Whiskey Chute because of all the liquor stores and bars that once lined it.

She bought Oscar’s equipment and gave her store a name to ensure people knew she had no intention in dealing with the demands of styling women’s hair.

“I went with ‘Men’s Haircuts by Natilee’ because I didn’t want people to think an old guy like Oscar was still in here,” Ashworth said laughing, “and that is really I think the key to what made my business take off. When the internet came into play, people started Googling ‘haircuts’ or ‘men’s haircuts’ and I would come up first.”

Ashworth built her business around men who would flood from their offices to the street for lunch. She would arrive around 11 a.m. and stay until 7 p.m. for the post-work crowd, or later if someone showed up at the door last-minute.

“I always say it’s the guilt more than it’s the money,” Ashworth said. “I feel guilty making you go the weekend without a haircut."

'The most popular business in an alley'

As her customer base grew and grew, her rent hardly did. In 1994, she paid $200 per month. This year, she paid $417 per month.

Downtown Memphis, meanwhile, went through a transformation around her. AutoZone Park opened, FedExForum was built when the Grizzlies came to Memphis and the University of Memphis law school moved in across the street. Her clients changed along with that.

She went from predominantly men in suits to a mix of grad students, new doctors – either from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the University of Tennessee Medical School – and the young professionals that moved into the apartments that sprouted around South Main Street.

People from all walks of life co-mingled in her tiny space. There were rich men and men collecting their first paychecks. There were white men and foreign men who hardly spoke English. She wasn’t licensed to use a razor on skin, which limited her Black clientele based on their haircut preference. But there were always a few who gave her a try anyways.

She was, in many ways, proof that a store can evolve with a city.

“When you think about it, it’s a great spot for a barber shop,” Strickland said. “It’s not a great spot for a deli or a restaurant. It’s just perfect with what has traditionally been a lot of offices. Probably second only to the Rendezvous, she’s the most popular business in an alley.”

But the sale of the Falls Building felt like a sign. She had been thinking about leaving, and this gave Ashworth the reason she needed to justify it to herself.

Strickland figured she would change her mind. So did I when she told me of her plans about a year ago. Wexler, who also worked in real estate development for the Henry Turley Company, told her he’d help her find another place in town. Ashworth went looking for new places to recommend for customers and realized there aren't many shops like hers left.

"These guys are really not wanting me to go," Ashworth said. "It’s shocking.”

So the final visits began over the past month, and eventually it was Don Smith's turn.

He wanted to be Ashworth's last haircut, even though he didn't need one.

He wanted to be transported back in time once more via a $16 haircut, to when he first came to Ashworth while working for Morgan Keegan down the street. He wanted to sit in the 60-year-old chair, next to the 60-year-old sinks and the 60-year-old cabinets, and look at Elvis and Steve McQueen on the wall. He wanted to say goodbye. To Ashworth and, as he soon realized once the scissors started going and the conversation flowed, to the city he once knew.

“We used to come down at lunchtime, there were thousands of people out on the trolley tracks,” Smith said. “Even after work, sometimes we would go out and get a drink or get dinner or something, and there’d still be hundreds of people up and down the trolley tracks. Now, it’s just nothing. I mean it’s shocking to me. It’s a little heartbreaking.”

“It looked like Wall Street with all the suits,” Ashworth chimed in. “That’s just gone.”

And now Men's Haircuts by Natilee is gone with them, with only one lingering question left behind.

Does anyone know another good barber?