Headquarters Barbershop: Jimmy Evans

Off Capital Boulevard in Raleigh, Headquarters Barbershop has been providing personal, professional service to dedicated clients for more than a decade.  

Owner Jimmy Evans, who has 30 years of experience in the industry, opened the shop in 2013 with the intentional purpose of building a community with his clients. 

“I’ve been a barber since 1995. I started my first barbershop back in 1999,” says Evans. “In 2013, I decided to concentrate more on my clients and make it a more personal and professional environment and bought a smaller suite.” 

But like so many in the barbershop industry, Headquarters Barbershop was hit hard in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evans was connected with Carolina Small Business Development Fund (CSBDF) and accessed grant funding through the Oak City Biz Labs program.  

“I had been in business for seven years at that location fostering that personal environment for my clientele when the pandemic hit. The barbershop industry took a huge hit during COVID,” says Evans. “I didn’t have any income for six or seven months. I got connected to CSBDF during the pandemic and was able to get a grant that helped with a few months of overhead.” 

Since the pandemic, Headquarters Barbershop has continued to thrive and in 2025 Evans decided to look into a possible expansion of his shop as he looked to serve even more clients.  

However, accessing capital through traditional financial institutions was a challenge for Evans, as it is with so many small business owners even with a strong history of entrepreneurial success.  

“Being a small business, one of the most difficult things is going to a bank and getting a project funded unless you have an enormous amount of money upfront anyway,” says Evans. “I had tried to access capital from a number of different institutions, but the requirements were just too high. There was always an excuse as to why a small business like mine couldn’t get funded. But I was amazed how CSBDF filled that gap for me.”

Still looking to expand, Evans returned to his relationship with CSBDF and worked with the organization as he sought capital. As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), CSBDF places a commitment on creating economic opportunity for all and serving all small business owners in North Carolina.  

“I kept a relationship with the team at CSBDF over the years, and in 2025 I decided to look into expanding my business, so I went back to them,” says Evans. “We started having conversations about what that would look like. My Business Solutions Officer started racking his brain, and I really appreciate how he jumped in headfirst and rode with me throughout the whole process. He gave me as much information as he could, he walked me through it all, he would stay on the phone with me for an hour at a time anytime I needed help. The loan closing team also helped walk me through some tough situations. The team at CSBDF went the extra 10 miles to help me get this loan. I was so greatly appreciative.” 

Evans received a loan from CSBDF in May of 2025, helping as he began a three-phase construction project to renovate and expand Headquarters Barbershop. 

“The loan helped me to expand my business,” says Evans. “Initially it was a one-chair studio shop, then I moved to a three-chair studio shop. Now with this expansion, we’re giving the shop a complete makeover and turning it into five individual suites to really emphasize that personal approach to serving our clients.” 

As Headquarters Barbershop expands its capacity to assist more clients, Evans also has big ambitions as it relates to his work in the community. In addition to his business, Evans also runs his nonprofit, The Barbershop Therapy Foundation, which trains barbers to become mental health advocates with their clients and in their communities.  

It is small business owners who consistently work hard in communities to better the lives of everyone around them, and with both his business and his nonprofit Evans is doing just that in Raleigh. 

“I have a ton of aspirations. As a barber, my long-term goal is to own several individual suite style barbershops because this is a business that is never going out of style,” says Evans. “But also, I have big goals in the community. I started a nonprofit organization, The Barbershop Therapy Foundation, where we are training barbers to become mental health advocates in their communities. We want barbers to be a resource and to provide resources to their clientele that they have these relationships with. We just want barbers to play even bigger roles in their communities. Promoting barbershop therapy is something that I really want to do for this industry and for our community.”