At a major crossroads in his life, Chauncy Groves left everything to chance.

Groves, a longtime Prairie City resident, wanted to do something different from the life he had led, jumping from job to job throughout his 20s and not earning the kind of pay he’d have liked. He had worked for ranches, a contract firefighting company, a boat building yard in Portland, a construction outfit in Colorado, a restaurant in Prairie City and a grocery store in Burns, among other things.

“I was tired of working on a ranch and making under $15 an hour and making what you earn in the jobs you have in high school forever,” recalled Groves, 32.

In 2020, he decided he wanted to get a degree in natural resources and land a job with the Forest Service. One day, a friend’s grandfather said he should try cutting hair instead.

The grandfather, Walt Gentis of Canyon City, was good friends with Joe West, who had worked as the town barber in John Day for decades — in the building that was destroyed in the major downtown fire last April.

Gentis told Groves he should get into the haircutting business and “make a killing doing it.” Groves was unsure. But Gentis told Groves when you reach a tough point in your life, you toss a coin.

So, it was heads for the Forest Service and tails for cutting hair. Gentis won the coin toss. Groves Googled barber and beauty schools. He found one in Boise.

The day Groves was set to drive to Boise to check out the school, a snowplow hit and damaged his car. A friend gave him a ride.

Like many in Grant County, Groves proudly wore (and still does) the kind of long, full beard that men wore in the 19th century. It wasn’t the type of student style the school usually saw, he said.

“They were, like, ‘You need a haircut — you don’t look like you give haircuts,’” Groves recalled. “I said, ‘Fair enough.’”

Shortly after Groves enrolled in the school, COVID hit and closed it down. It was another six months of waiting until the school opened up again. When it did, Groves had another six months of training and a lot of fake heads of hair to train on.

But Groves kept at it, got better and, after receiving his certification, got a job at Sport Clips in Boise and later at Jonna’s Hair Care on Canyon Boulevard, in downtown John Day. He’s thankful for the support from the longtime hairstylist, who opened her place up for him to make his start.

It was slow going for some time at Jonna’s, but word spread until Groves finally got a steady group of regulars coming to him after five months of little business.

“When I started off with Jonna, business was slow, with two people a day,” Groves said. “I had friends and family that would come in, and other than that, it was very slow and (all) through word of mouth, because I did zero advertising. I hung up some flyers and figured I’d do Facebook a couple of times.”

As his clientele grew, an opportunity arose to set up shop at the empty storefront just across the street from Jonna’s next to US Bank — at a former liquor store that had been closed for a decade.

“Essentially it was empty, and I would walk past it going to the post office quite often,” Groves said. “And they had a For Sale sign on the window.”

Groves got a loan in 2022 and, after a long process of acquiring the necessary licenses, opened Chauncy’s Barber Shop a few weeks ago, in mid-May. His first customer was Gentis.

These days, Groves has 30 to 40 regular customers and sees about 15 people a day. One customer drives 95 miles round trip for a 45-minute straight razor shave, with hot towels. The tireless barber is on his feet from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays for walk-ins. He said most of his clientele is men, with a few women, though all are welcome.

“The thing men don’t like is having to make an appointment,” Groves said. “That’s the only thing I really offer them that the women (stylists) don’t. They like walking in because most of them work in the woods or they might get a 30-minute lunch once a week. So they can walk in and get in the chair, and it’s all the luck of the timing.”

Groves said he’s doing well, but he’d like to cut hair for more young people.

“What I’m trying to figure out is how to get more response from high school kids,” Groves said. “I know there’s a lot of people that cut hair here, and you go wherever your parents go. … and for most high school kids, their mom makes them an appointment, so that’s where they go. I’m going to try to reach out more this year, now that I have my own shop.”

Groves also hopes to help bring more local barbers into town at his shop. Next to his chair is space for another station, with room for a possible third station on the other side of the shop floor. Groves said, to his knowledge, he’s the only male barber in all of Grant County, plus Burns, Lakeview and Klamath Falls.

“I want to help someone else come and join me at some point,” he said. “I mean, I know I’m just starting, but there’s multiple kids that are just finishing barber school that feel like they don’t know enough.”

His favorite part of the job is getting to know and, sometimes, help the people who sit in his chair. Often, when clients are going through a tough time in life, having someone listen makes all the difference, Groves said. What’s discussed during a haircut stays in the barbershop, he added.

“You build a relationship, like a bartender or a therapist, to where they’re comfortable telling you anything because they know this is where it ends,” Groves said. “They know the conversation is between me, them and the chair and that’s it, so they can get a lot of stuff off their chest. … I have people come through my door and tell me they’re losing everything in their life because they made a mistake. The next thing you know is we talk and they feel better about life.”

Groves is carrying on the tradition of town barber in John Day, like West or Dale Bazona, another longtime local barber.

“For me, I want to be the next Joe West or Dale Bazona, to where I’m here for the next 40 years, until I can’t work anymore,” he said.

WHAT: Chauncy’s Barber Shop

WHERE: 112 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day

HOURS: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday to Friday

OWNER: Chauncy Groves

ETC.: Groves does leathercraft work (belts, holsters) as a side job at the back of his shop