By Kim Hilsenbeck
In 41 years, a barber can cut a lot of hair.
That’s exactly what Lamar LaCaze, 68, did at Lamar’s on the square in San Marcos. And he was good at it – building up a cadre of customers, bringing in rent money even through lean times.
“I started out with a lot of little kids’ haircuts; now they are in their ‘50s,” LaCaze said in a recent phone interview.
But then in late Aug., LaCaze said he received a phone call from Charles Waldrip, his landlord. Waldrip owns an insurance company in town. He also owns the building where LaCaze had his barbershop for the past four decades.
After that call, LaCaze and his wife, Lois, drove to San Marcos to meet Waldrip in person.
“I don’t break up with anybody on the phone,” LaCaze said.
And while LaCaze said he tried to talk with Waldrip about the situation, he said the other man’s mind was made up.
“’It’s done,’ he told me. But I don’t think it was hostile,” LaCaze said.
Waldrip would only say that the building is his and he had the right to terminate LaCaze’s lease.
“It’s my building, he had a 30-day notice of lease termination. It was my right. He could have terminated [the lease], too,” he said.
He would not provide any comment on whether he was unhappy with LaCaze or if there was some other mitigating circumstance that resulted in his terminating the lease.
Waldrip would not confirm whether the building would retain a barbershop or some other business.
“There will be something there. It may be a barber,” he said.
Lamar and Lois LaCaze said they are not aware of any issues or problems between them and Waldrip.
For the better part of the past 10 months, LaCaze, who lives in Kyle, has been out of work with a medical condition. He lost part of his foot along the way. September was the month he planned to return to work.
But his team of barbers who stayed in the shop continued to keep business flowing, allowing LaCaze to pay the rent on time, every month.
“We never missed a payment,” said his wife, Lois, her voice cracking with emotion as she told their story. She paused a few times to hold back the tears.
Lois has been LaCaze’s right-hand gal over the course of their nearly 50-year marriage.
“We’ve had good times out of that shop,” LaCaze said. “We raised three kids.”
Waldrip let LaCaze know his lease was being terminated but gave no reason. He also gave him 30 days to vacate the building per their leasing contract. Any personal items remaining in the business after 30 days would become the property of Waldrip.
That same building has had only five barbers in the past 101 years. LaCaze bought the business from Sam “Slim” Stockton in
1972. Lois said the business has operated continuously under all the owners, until this month.
“We shut it down,” Lois said. “It bothers us, but we felt we didn’t have a choice.”
Once they got the notice from Waldrip, LaCaze and his wife asked their three grown children to come home and help them move everything out of the shop – they wanted to get it done quickly so nothing would be left to Waldrip.
LaCaze said the landlord tried to claim some of the barbershop furniture, which made LaCaze wonder why he would need it. LaCaze then discovered that one of his former barbers named Rudy was setting up shop.
“I talked to Rudy a few times about buying the business,” LaCaze said. “But now he doesn’t have to buy anything.”
His comment echoed one his wife made earlier.
“Nobody is buying the shop, but we’re kicked out,” she said.
Is he upset at Rudy for how things turned out?
“Rudy worked for me 10 or12 years,” LaCaze said. “He can have [the shop]. He’s had three barbershops and he’s never made anything of it.”
What’s next for LaCaze?
“I don’t know what to do with myself,” he said. “I’m going to do something.”
He may look for a shop to rent in Kyle, but for now, he’s taking it day-by-day and focusing on getting healthy again.
“Not only is he losing his livelihood,” Lois said, “but if he had the option to sell, he’s lost that. People wanted to buy the shop. It stopped that legacy of being on the square when he lost the lease.”
Lois said going back to work was her husband’s inspiration for getting well.
“He needs something,” she said.
LaCaze said he would like to keep cutting hair.
“I love to barber,” he said.
