THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509090291
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Most of the people who get their hair cut at Romanuel Lewis' Barber Shop on Church Street in Norfolk are African Americans. There's nothing wrong with that. But Lewis, a black man, wishes his clientele was more racially diverse.
``When you're in business, you're here to serve the public,'' said the wavy-haired barber as he reclined in his shoe-shine chair. ``The public is everybody.''
``My dream is to have a shop that serves all races,'' Lewis said. ``I know how to cut everyone's hair and that's a talent that's not being used.''
About 95 percent of customers frequenting Lewis' salon at Church Square Shopping Center are black. Racial loyalty, some of Lewis' coworkers say, is the only way black-owned businesses will flourish.
Tony Rachmein Lankford, a 22-year-old barber at Lewis' salon, said that as a young black entrepreneur, he would take the lack of black support personally.
``In dealing with your race, it's almost like turning your back on you. It's like your family,'' Lankford said.
Lankford and Naomi Lewis, another hair stylist who was working on a customer but who wanted to weigh in, argued that blacks need to support each other financially to improve their communities.
``If we don't support each other, no one will,'' Lewis said. ``The other races don't support our business. In order for us to become economically independent, we have to support each other.''
African Americans in Hampton Roads voiced differing opinions about whether they had a responsibility to support black-owned businesses.
No one disagreed that blacks should patronize each other's companies or ventures. But some took issue with the extent. The best quality product or service for the price asked still determined many of their decisions.
``I really feel that if we band together that'll help minority businesses to survive,'' said Barbara Pope, owner of Barbara's Creations, a bridal consultant. ``The only reason why I wouldn't support a black-owned business is if I found their services were not professional. In any business, that's important to me regardless of who the proprietor is.''
Other factors come into play too.
``We try to be conscious and patronize a black business if it's convenient to us but then again we don't necessarily do it if something is truly more convenient for us,'' said Lisa Boddie, office manager for the dental office of Clark, Marioneaux and Price in Chesapeake.
When that happens, the entire African-American community loses, not just a shop owner, some suggest.
``When minorities spend their money outside the immediate community, those dollars rarely find their way back to that community as far as improvements, jobs and opportunities,'' said Ulysses Turner, a real estate developer who is also chairman of the Norfolk School Board.
Sometimes blacks are too hard on each other, suggested Michele Gaskins, a hair stylist at Hair'um in Motion in Norfolk. If they have a bad experience in one black-owed store they may not do business at another, she said.
Often times, black-owned business are underfunded. So, they're not always well stocked or in choice locations.
For example, Lewis' barber shop is located on Church Street which Lewis described as having a ``not-so-pleasant history.'' Bricks prop up the back of his shoe-shine chair and there's no phone in the salon.
Blacks need to emulate other minorities' joint ventures, said Aubrey L. Hunter, who works with Gaskins. Some ethnic groups collect money from relatives to start stores, restaurants or companies.
``We can't go in together (in business) because we're jealous of each other,'' Hunter said. ``We're like crabs in a basket. When you see one reach the top you try to pull one down.'' ILLUSTRATION: JOHN EARLE/Staff
Color photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff
Romanuel Lewis cuts Richard Boone's hair Friday at Lewis' Barber
Shop in Norfolk.
by CNB