December 14, 2022: Hair Cut, My Favorite Barbershop（2）（散髪、行きつけの散髪屋（2））

It has been about twenty years since it started the business. The shop has never raised its prices other than part of consumption taxes. Thus, it is more competitive in price than its neighbouring rivals. Its prices are lower than about 30% than its rivals. It is good news for me since prices keep on rising. But I have a concern as to whether it can continue the business. It is run by the owner and another barber. The owner is the same age as me and seems to retire soon. But another barber is still 30s young. Probably, he will succeed in the shop after the owner retires. But I am anxious about whether he can continue the business by the time he is in his 60s or older. The shop’s regular customers are ageing and older than the barber. It seems extremely hard to run unless it attracts new and young customers.
I really hope that it survives the storm. I cannot handle the loss of the long-standing shop.

　この店が開業して約20年です。この店は、開業以来、消費税分を除いて値上げをしていません。その結果、周辺の他店と比べるとカット料金は3割ほど安くなっています。物価の高騰が続く中、ボクには非常にありがたいのですが、店のことを考えると心配になります。店はマスターとも１人の理髪師さんの２人で運営されています。マスターはボクと同じような年なので、引退も近いかと思いますが、もう１人の理髪師は30代でまだ若いです。マスターが引退すると、この従業員１人で経営することになると思いますが、本人が60歳代になるまで続けられるか心配です。常連客は高齢化し、この理容師より高齢です。従って、若い新規顧客を取り込まないと、続けていくのは極めて難しそうです。
　長い付き合いだけに、何とか乗り切って欲しいと願うばかりです。