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Photo Credit: Stephen Mccowage |
One of the many peculiarities of the keys that I’ve come to (mostly) handle with a shrug is that businesses will just be closed sometimes. In the middle of the day, in the middle of the week (as we found out the other day with Square Grouper). Try getting your haircut on a Saturday after noon between Key West and Marathon, I dare you. Rarely does the sign actually say “gone fishing” unless it is an establishment that sells fish, but if the weather is nice, you can be that is a good reason why the “closed” sign is hanging during a perfectly normal business hour.
It frustrates many, especially visitors, and defies a logic that many of us were raised with in this glorious capitalist country, but it makes more sense the longer you live down here. For one, many of these businesses are run by their owners – not trained staff who can be trusted to take the reigns if something comes up (or the weather is good for fishing). For another, it is sometimes more cost-effective depending on the season and the business. I’ve learned that many stylists, for example, have two jobs because they are only called in to style when there’s a customer – mostly because there just aren’t enough customers. My key only has 6,000 (semi) permanent residents compared to the 24,000 who lived with me in my last city not to mention the 1.31 million residents who lived in my last county. And while there are a sizable number of tourists who travel to the keys each year, rarely do they stop in for a haircut. Finally, there is what you might imagine – the work to live attitude that generally dominates. That’s not to say people here don’t work hard, but I’ve found that they don’t let work completely run their lives either.



I was heartened by the number of locals who came in even in the short amount of time I was there – always a good sign especially for a newish place. And they definitely made a good sandwich. The average sandwich cost around $9, but they had some specials which were closer to $6. If you’re driving through Marathon and want a place to stop for lunch, you should give them a shot.
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