The History of Jerry’s Barber Shop {Home Town Takeover Ep. 2}

Come behind the scenes again with me on Home Town Takeover. Today we are exploring the history of Jerry’s Barber Shop in Wetumpka.

Jerry’s Barber Shop was such an amazing transformation. Check out the “before” photos of the exterior of Jerry’s shop when we scouted it back in March 2020.

And here it is after the makeover!

The interior had a drop ceiling, fluorescent lighting, a burgundy border and CARPET. Yes, carpet. On the floor of a Barber Shop. I’m sneezing just thinking about it.

But then Ben and Pharrell came in swinging! As they chiseled away, decades were peeled back, reveling beautiful exposed brick walls.

Here is the “After” pics, taken from that exact same angle as before. It’s completely transformed. I snapped all of these pics on the night after filming was completed while it was still staged for the show.

The team also uncovered the beautiful original transom window over the front door and breathed new life back into it.

On the other side of the room this amazing brick wall was hiding behind the old plaster! I got this next photo in a text message while I was in a meeting and my jaw literally DROPPED OPEN with an audible gasp. I knew immediately this project was going to be something super special!

It has the most beautiful old brick with something that looked like “Bros. General” painted on it. It was hard to read, so I did further digging to try to uncover the history behind this wall. I’ll share more about that in just a bit.

Let’s see the final “After” photos!

These barber stations were custom built for the show.

My husband was so excited to see his vintage cash register, gold-bladed fan and his 48-star flag from our basement displayed proudly on the show.

When Jeremy and I stopped by the shop to gather our staging stuff, we snapped this selfie from one of the barber chairs. We were so excited by how this project turned out!

If you’ve read my blog post about our unanswered prayers to renovate an old storefront, you’ll understand the excitement on our faces. It was like watching our dreams come true, but on HGTV’s dime.

The wood for the back wall was donated by the First Presbyterian Church.

Jerry had lots of memorabilia from his years as a barber, so we put them in shadowboxes for him to keep on display.

Didn’t this shop turn out so amazing? I love every little detail of this space.

Here’s a better daylight view of the exposed brick wall that was uncovered. More about that in a minute. First let’s talk about that checkerboard floor!

Can you believe this is an Luxury Vinyl Tile?? It was the perfect flooring for this space. SO. MUCH. BETTER than that old carpet.

The History of Jerry’s Barber Shop

I’ve done a bit more research and discovered the registration form for downtown Wetumpka to be added to the National Registry of Historical Places. This form was chock full of great info about the history of the town! Here is the section about Jerry’s Barber Shop:

According to this, a lot of the storefronts in Wetumpka were built in the mid-to-late 1800 through the early 1900s. The storefront beside Jerry’s used to be called Robinson and Brothers General store. That building was built in 1855 and the Barber shop was built in 1925.

So, when this building was constructed, this wall was actually the exterior of the Robinson and Bros General Store. Their sign was painted on the outside of it until the Barber shop came along.

I just love historical buildings. Don’t you?

The Bullet Hole in the Front Door

There is also some very cool history that was hidden right inside the door of the shop. Jerry told Ben and Erin the story on episode 102 of Home Town Takeover, but if you haven’t seen it let me try to hit the highlights.

Back in the late 1800’s the local dentist got into a shootout on the street outside the shop and a stray bullet went through the front door.

Ben and Erin took the door to Long Leaf Woodshop, where they were able to find the place where the bullet passed through. Amazing!

The Design Team got this text from Erin showing us the bullet hole. I laughed when I saw this scene from episode 102 when Erin is snapping the pic to send to us! I loved little moments like this on the show.

And finally, here is the end result. The bullet hole was cast in resin for future generations of Wetumpka to see.

Since the show aired, Mayor Jerry has decided to retire from the barbering biz! He sold the Barber Shop and it is now open to the public as a bookstore called Sweet Home Book Shop.

I’m so excited to hear that Wetumpka now has a book shop. Every small town needs one of those.

And as a fan of Home Town Takeover, here is the good news for you-

Now that it’s a retail store, that means you can go visit the inside of the store and see this gorgeous old building in person for yourself, no hair appointment necessary! It’s a win/win!

Click here to download a FREE PRINTABLE Coloring page of Jerry’s Barber Shop + Scenes from Wetumpka!

If you liked this post, check out these related posts from my blog!

• Ep. 101: Tour The Moody House
• 101: Tour The Tapp18 Boutique
• 102: Tour the Big Fish House
• 102: Tour Jerry’s Barber Shop
• Read all the Home Town Takeover Posts here.
• Download FREE Coloring Pages with Scenes from Wetumpka!