Who would have thought a barbershop and a skate-supply shop could coexist in the same storefront?
That would be Jairus Rutherford, who is hoping that Second 2 None Barbershop and Skate Supply can help revive Plant City’s skateboarding culture. The Plant City native already has one store in Lakeland, which has been successful enough to make this expansion work.
“I just wanted to bring something new, somewhere nice for the people to go,” Rutherford says. “Barber shops are kind of scarce over here, so we wanted to bring something new and something different. With the barber shop and skate supply, it’s something different. I think Plant City’s just ready for it.”
Second 2 None may be the first franchise of its kind anywhere, but it didn’t get to be so unique overnight. Although Rutherford had a lingering love of skating from his youth, the shop itself came to be when he followed another passion.
GOING WITH THE FLOW
Back in Rutherford’s day, it was incredibly hard for skateboarders to get the exposure needed to go pro.
“It was different, back then,” he says. “Now, you have the Internet, social media, stuff like that. Word can travel a lot faster now than it could back then. As far as going pro back then, your chances were almost, like, one out of a million.”
So, he and his friends skated at schools, streets and driveways around Plant City just for fun. He originally wanted to go into education, but another of his hobbies caught up with him first.
A barber since age 14, Rutherford simply never brought himself to stop cutting hair.
“It’s just that I was cutting since I was young,” he says. “Everything I got, I got it from barbering. It was just something that I couldn’t really get away from, because I was always doing it. It was, like, my lunch money, my school clothes, all of that stuff.”
Working out of Plant City, he moved to a shed by Snowden Park and cut hair on weekends. Eventually, he gained enough clients and capital to move his operation to his house. As his business grew, he was able to open Second 2 None in Lakeland.
To make it stand out from other barbershops, though, Rutherford wanted to give his shop a unique theme. He settled on skateboarding and expanded to include clothes, decks, wheels and other gear. Coincidentally, Lakeland’s skating scene was blooming with the opening of Lakeland SkatePark.
The city’s acceptance of the sport — shown most notably with last month’s InnoSkate event — allowed the scene to grow, bringing kids to the park instead of the streets and helping businesses such as Rutherford’s bring in revenue. He hopes to one day turn it into a prominent chain, like SportClips, and knew Plant City was the logical second stop.
“Hopefully, having a shop here, it’s going to help revive it by allowing the kids to come here to buy stuff,” Jay Zengotita says. They’d have to go to Brandon, or Tampa, or Lakeland to get their stuff.”
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Zengotita, the Plant City shop’s only other employee, is also a barber and former skater who didn’t want to lose his connection to the culture.
“It’s good to go out there and skate, to gain the respect of the people that are out there,” he says. “Especially the newer generation — they need people to look up to. Being out there, being positive, it’s definitely good to give a positive outlook to these new kids that are coming up there and skating.”
A Lakeland native, Zengotita was initially one of Rutherford’s clients before becoming a business partner. Now, one month into the Plant City shop’s existence, he and Rutherford believe the local skating scene has the potential to grow into something bigger, to perhaps come out of its shell.
Their goal is to promote a good public perception of the sport, beyond simply recruiting skaters for the Second 2 None competitive team. One of their ideas, if the city allows it, is to host a back-to-school parking lot jam, complete with ramps, rails and a half-pipe.
“We do a back-to-school drive, so we thought it would be cool to bring the half-pipe and do a mini ramp jam in the parking lot and give away school supplies,” Rutherford says. “We want to let people know that we’re the new, cool barbershop and skate supply in Plant City.”
Beyond that, both men hope the shop can be the hub of the Plant City scene. They hope that giving skaters a place to go besides Mike E. Sansone Community Park will help them focus on their skateboarding and stay out of trouble.
“I would say it’s a place where they can get good advice,” Rutherford says. “A place where we could have kids come by instead of just being out doing nothing but getting in trouble. Why not stop by the barbershop and talk about skating? We could keep kids out of trouble.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
SAY WHAT?
It’s easy for one to listen to skaters talk about their craft for two minutes and get completely lost. There’s a lot of jargon that’s unique to the sport. Fortunately, we’re here to help translate some of it.
Street skating: Skating in the streets or sidewalks. In parks or contests, there’s often a course set up with small ramps, boxes and rails.
Vert skating: Skating on big half-pipes, quarter-pipes and similar ramps, catching big air. Tony Hawk, the world’s most famous skater, is best-known for this style.
Regular stance: Left foot in the front, right foot in the back — as opposed to Goofy stance, which is the opposite.
Switch stance: After landing a trick with at least a 180-degree spin, skating with your opposite foot forward.
Mongo: Pushing your skateboard with your front foot, as opposed to your back foot.
Trucks: Think of them as the axles of a skateboard.
Ollie: A basic jump.
Grind: After jumping onto a rail or ledge, sliding on either the board or its trucks for a period of time.
Manual: Balancing on one set of wheels.
Flatland/freestyle: Making the most out of a flat surface with manuals, and any tricks that come from manuals. Florida native Rodney Mullen has made a long, storied career out of this.
Kicker: A small ramp used in street skating. Plastic ones can be found at many sporting goods stores.
JOINING THE TEAM
Think you’ve got what it takes to skate competitively?
Apply at the shop’s website, second2nonebarbershop.com, and send in some video footage of your best tricks.