There are now two businesses occupying space in a familiar free-standing building on U.S. 63 in Houston.
The structure, which is adjacent to Texas County Memorial Hospital and Pizza Express, now houses both the office of American Family Insurance agent Donnie Wells and Seth Walker’s Hometown Barber Shop.
Wells’ mother, Kathy Wells, runs an American Family office in Cabool and the two share another office in Willow Springs.
Wells has worked with American Family for about 16 years and opened an office on Grand Avenue in Houston in 2010. He moved to the U.S. 63 location in 2014 and sold it to Walker earlier this year.
The two then made a mutual agreement for Wells to rent space in the back portion of the building, and both are pleased with the arrangement.
“It’s been a good fit,” Wells said. “Seth is a good guy, and I think it’s helped him, and I know it’s helped us in the fact that we get a lot more walk-in business now because he’s super busy.”
Walker opened Hometown Barber Shop in March of 2021 at a location on Grand Avenue in downtown Houston. He began serving customers at the new location on March 7 of this year, and has improved the building by adding new siding and a front porch and walkway, and fixing up the interior.
“We have a lot better visibility now,” Walker said, “and we’ve seen a lot of people from the area who didn’t know we were downtown. We plan on being here for a long time, so I wanted to make a good investment into the community.”
Despite the positive aspects of the new arrangement, Wells said the recent appearance of the barber shop resulted in some confusion about his status in Houston.
“Seth has done a lot of work to the building,” Wells said, “and with all the construction that went on, I just want to let our clients and the community know that we haven’t moved and we’re still here to serve the people in the same way we’ve been serving. People can stop in any time and get a quote at no charge and have a look at what’s been done here.
“We’re kind of proud of the change.”
The phone number at Wells’ office is 417-967-2400. The address of the building is 1411 S. Sam Houston Blvd. in Houston.