MANCHESTER, NH – If anyone is looking for a place to get a haircut downtown, there’s a new option that is setting down roots.
Located on Manchester Street between Elm and Chestnut Streets, Roots Barbershop held a ribbon cutting on Friday, officially opening for business this weekend.
Roots is run by Philip McNulty, a barber with 10 years of experience, much of which came cutting the hair of Manchester-area clients at Varnished on Bridge Street. McNulty felt that it was time to open his own shop, just don’t ask him about the exact meaning of the shop’s name.
“It just sounds cool; me and my wife Danielle were sitting down with a piece of paper and looking to think of a name. So, I’m thinking, ‘I need to be able to say it, spell it, remember it. If it’s too complicated, we shouldn’t do it,’ so we decided on Roots,” he said. “But the interesting part is we begin to think of all the interesting meanings roots has: hair has roots, we’re creating new roots in Manchester right here on Manchester Street, I like root beer… it turned out to all be a coincidence.”
McNulty believes he can retain some clients he has served elsewhere and thinks that the new residents slowly entering into the downtown area will also be potential clients as well in the near future. Steve Richard is the owner of 99-101 Manchester St., the building next door to Roots, and he agrees that the barbershop will find new clients within the neighborhood very soon.
“Currently there’s 230 units being built all around us. The old police station, the next block behind that, the building behind my building, and so on. In a real short time, we’re going to have a couple hundred new apartments downtown, and we’re creating a great retail and dining environment. I think this is fantastic for the community and I think Roots will do extremely well here. I’ll do my part to support them.”
Richard said that this block has had something of a stigma to it until very recently and he is pleased that both his property and Roots can be part of the neighborhood’s revitalization. Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais agreed.
Ruais felt that Friday’s gathering was a perfect example of the new energy that is growing downtown.
“I’ve had the privilege of watching (McNulty) grow from a staff barber to a manger and then renting his own booth and now opening his own shop and already finding success in his own space. I couldn’t be more proud of what Phil has accomplished,” said Ruais. “I look forward to seeing his continued success in this neighborhood. That’s exactly what we want in Manchester; having people like Phil, places like Roots, coming into this community and ‘setting down Roots.’” This is exactly what we want in this city.”
More information on the shop can be found at https://rootsbarbershopnh.com/
