Ballard barber questions future of business after second break-in

SEATTLE — A Ballard business is the latest to fall victim to a break-in this weekend.

The owner of The Singing Barber barber shop posted about his plight on social media after his supplies were stolen in a Saturday night burglary.

The shop sits at the corner of Market Street and Eighth Avenue Northwest, and the front door, which was smashed during the burglary, was boarded up on Monday morning.

Shop owner Demarkis Wigfall met with KIRO 7′s crew early Monday as he opened up for the day.

“It’s really disappointing because the community seems to be very nice. I don’t know where all the burglaries come from,” said Wigfall.

Wigfall posted video on Instagram showing the shattered glass littering the pavement. He says this is not the first time he’s been hit.

He also says he’s a Black, queer veteran and has always appreciated Ballard, but says this latest break-in hurts since a lot of the equipment was stolen — equipment that keeps him in business.

“This is the second time in under a year actually. This time, they broke through the whole door, the alarm didn’t go off, they took all my supplies,” said Wigfall.

Because the thieves took his supplies, Demarkis will have to borrow some gear to continue working with his clients.

Following a weekend of repairs and attempts at re-supplying, Wigfall was at the shop meeting those clients and moving forward, though he does wonder if he will be at this location much longer after this latest break-in.

“My first thought is, ‘Do I actually need to be here, is there somewhere else I could go, just take my talents somewhere else,’ because I really do like Ballard a lot. I’ve been shown a lot of love here, been here for 10 years…The city really does have to do something about the burglaries. It really needs to step up,” said Wigfall.

A GoFundMe was started to support The Singing Barber. It actually had a goal of reaching $12,000, but by Saturday, it had surpassed that, and was well over $15,000 Monday morning, and that all came from nearly 200 donors.

©2024 Cox Media Group