SECOND SHIFT · FROM THE FIELD
Akron, Ohio · Personal services · Career change to trade school to business ownership
Original reporting: Shams Mustafa, Signal Akron · October 9, 2026
Kyle Alexander spent nearly a decade behind a camera. Now he owns a barbershop that has been cutting hair in Akron’s Wallhaven neighborhood since 1982, Signal Akron’s Shams Mustafa reports.
Alexander, 34, shot men’s and women’s fashion for an e-commerce company for close to 10 years before he lost interest in the work, according to the report. Remembering how his sister cut friends’ hair when he was young, he came to see barbering as a creative outlet, quit and enrolled in barber school. After graduating, he spent five years at a shop in Cleveland before returning to Akron.
Earlier this year he spent his Saturdays at J.R. Coatter’s Hairstyling on South Frank Boulevard, watching longtime owner Johnny Coatter work and getting to know the customers. On Aug. 3, Alexander officially took over from the retiring Coatter, 68, and renamed the shop Good Hands Barbershop. Coatter’s wife, Jamie, still cuts hair there, and regulars have moved from Coatter’s chair to Alexander’s.
“As hairstylists or barbers,” Alexander said, “we use our hands for good.”
“I couldn’t have asked for a better person,” Coatter told Signal Akron.
Location Decision takeaway
Many neighborhood businesses close when their owners retire because no one is lined up to take over. Alexander’s path shows another way: a career changer with a trade license, years of experience at another shop and months of working alongside the owner before the handoff. For neighborhoods like Wallhaven, a planned handoff like this one can keep a storefront open and its customers coming back. This is our analysis; the facts are as reported by Signal Akron.
Second Shift tells the stories of people building what’s next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision’s perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.
Curated by Location Decision. Originally reported by Shams Mustafa, Signal Akron, October 9, 2026.
This item was sourced and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed under Location Decision’s editorial standards. Second Shift tracks workforce outcomes to inform our broader editorial analysis. All reporting belongs to the credited journalists; read the original story for the full account.