New owner restyles Mr. Wayne's Barber Shop

MOSES LAKE - What for the past three decades has been known as Mr. Wayne's Barber Shop is now Mr. Wayne's Parlor.

Founder Wayne True will continue cutting hair at the downtown Moses Lake shop, but the 75-year-old barber recently sold his business to Sheri Reynolds.

"(True) still has a lot of clients who rely on him and it's not like he's totally retiring. He still works from 6 to 1 every day," Reynolds said. "A lot of his guys come in before they go to work."

Reynolds brings her own long legacy of professional hair styling experience to the shop, which is located behind the Moses Lake Post Office at 321 South Beech St.

She holds five cosmetology licenses and owned her own hair salon on West Broadway for five years before being approached by the Regis Corporation to manage Moses Lake's Smartstyle Salon. A few years later she was promoted to regional manager for the Regis Corporation, overseeing several Smartstyle Salons across the Northwest.

Reynolds' husband, Ron, said when his wife learned True wanted to sell his shop, it didn't take much to convince her to get back into the hair cutting business.

"She loves the creativeness of working with her hands and interacting with people," he said. "I'm biased, but everybody whose hair she cuts, they don't want anybody else to do it. We'll be at the grocery store and she'll run into people who say, 'Can you get back into it? I want you to do my hair.'"

Reynolds agrees she has a large local following of loyal customers - some dating back more than 12 years. But while her previous salon was geared more toward women, she said she's excited to make Mr. Wayne's Parlor into a place that caters to the entire family, including kids.

"I've been doing this for a long time," Reynolds said. "I'm really excited to be my own boss again, and making people feel good about themselves is like a ministry to me."

Joining Wayne and Reynolds at the shop is Monica de Leon, who has been with Smartstyle in Moses Lake for the past eight years, and was manager for the past year and a half.

All three said they have a deep respect for True, and they're happy to keep his name front and center on the sign and to see him stay on at the shop for as long as he desires.

"Wayne True is kind of a fixture here in Moses Lake," Ron Reynolds said. "This place has been here since 1976 - that's a long time, so he knows a lot of people."

Mr. Wayne's Parlor is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Customers can stop in or make an appointment with Reynolds, de Leon or True, by calling 509-361-3502.