Jae’s Barbershop in Centralia Perseveres After Owner Took Second Job to Survive Early Days of Pandemic

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When Mary Amos gave up her career as a certified nursing assistant eight years ago, it was for a good reason. Her mother, Jae Sand, who owned Jae’s Barbershop, needed another hair stylist and more help running the business.

Her mother had started the barbershop 11 years ago, and it was originally located next to Domino’s on Harrison Avenue. When her mother decided to retire three years ago, the mother and daughter duo had already been planning for the occasion for a couple years at that point.

Amos began learning everything needed to run the business efficiently and took over ownership in 2018.

“I was nervous but she kind of prepped me for it for a couple years,” Amos said. “Like, ‘This is what we’re going to do, this is what’s going to happen.’ She mentally got me ready.”

Business was good these past three years, until the barbershop was forced to close for a month and a half, from mid-March to May, as barbershops and salons were not included in the state Department of Health’s list of essential businesses during the early portion of the pandemic.

With her only source of income temporarily shuttered, Amos was forced to find another job during a time when people were getting laid off, not hired. Lewis County saw its highest unemployment rate of the pandemic in April at 16.3%.

Luckily, she found a temporary job working nights at a plywood factory. When she was able to reopen her barbershop in May, some customers began coming back in, but not as many as before, as some were still hesitant to go into public places, she said.

With the lack of customers and revenue coming in, Amos began working days at the barbershop and then went to the plywood factory to work nights. It’s the only way she and her family could make it through the pandemic.

She worked a total of 11 months at the plywood factory, including eight of those while also working at the salon, until she was finally able to quit the plywood job earlier this month. Enough customers finally began coming into the barbershop that she could put food on the table without having to work both.

Now, the barbershop is open from 9 a.m. to 6  p.m., Wednesday to Saturday, for walk-ins only. Jae’s Barbershop offers only haircuts, both men’s and women’s. The shop has a 4.4-star rating out of 5 on Google reviews. It has a perfect 5-star rating out of 36 reviews on Facebook. Still, customers aren’t back to the numbers they were before the pandemic.

“A little slow and we’re missing some customers,” said Amos, who’s been a hair stylist for eight years now. “It’s not where it used to be. But I would say we can live off of it now.”



Amos also began noticing some barbershops and salons in the Twin Cities area never reopened.

“We noticed a lot of them didn’t make it,” Amos said.

The shop’s Facebook page is one of the new features Amos added for the company once she took it over from her mother. One of the most rewarding aspects for Amos of owning and operating a shop is simple.

“Being at a fair price so everyone can afford it, and everyone is happy and looks good and feels good,” Amos said.

More Information on Jaes Barbershop

Owner: Mary Amos

Location: 108 E. Bridge St., Centralia

Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday

Phone: 360-523-0513

Social media: facebook.com/maryscentraliabarbershop

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Reporter Eric Trent can be reached at etrent@chronline.com. Visit chronline.com/business for more coverage of local businesses.