On Christmas Eve, longtime customer Sean Robertson sat in the chair at Charlie’s Barber Shop for the last time.

“This is some Bentonville history right here,” Robertson said.

With deft hands, Charlie Turner guided his clippers, performing his final haircut after six decades of working as a barber in Bentonville.

With his lease up for renewal, Turner, 79, decided it was time to retire. 

“I figure it’s time for me to just hang it up,” he said. “I’ve done it for 60-plus years, and that’s about enough.”

Turner was raised on a farm in Vaughn and, except for some time in Little Rock for barber school, spent his entire life in the Bentonville area. 

He started as a barber at the Elkhorn Barber Shop on the south side of the square in 1964. At that time, Bentonville’s population was about 3,600, and a standard haircut cost $1.25.

“There was only about three main barber shops,” he said. “At one time or another, I’d cut somebody in the family’s hair during that time.”

Over the years, Turner moved his shop several times but maintained decades-long relationships with customers — some for all 60 years.

“They’re all good people, and I’m gonna miss them,” Turner said.

For the past several years, he’s been working a few days a week at a one-chair location at 1208 S. Walton Blvd. Little adorns the walls besides a handwritten sign that says “no cards” and a photo of him cutting his great-grandson’s hair.

He’s seen plenty of trends come and go. A specialty of his — which isn’t in demand much these days — is the flattop. 

“I’ll be honest about it — I’ll put mine up against anybody’s, to brag a little,” he said. 

And he’s been around long enough to know that the flattop — like most trends — might make a comeback one day. 

“Eventually … the flattops will come back,” he said “It’ll come back, and then there’s going to be barbers around here that don’t have a clue how to cut ’em.”

Even after six decades as a barber, he’s still learning. 

“No two heads of hair are the same. I don’t care whether they’re twins or what. They’re not the same — ever,” Turner said. “Sometimes, I kind of know how I’m going to handle it, sometimes I wonder how I’m going to do it, even now.”

Although his chair will be empty, Turner will still be around. Former customers might see him at a place that’s been a Bentonville fixture for about as long as he has.

“They’ll probably run into me at Walmart,” he said. “Everybody goes to Walmart some time or another.”