Florence police investigating a string of break-ins that all happened downtown between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Among the targets were Trinity Baptist Church on Darlington Street, North Vista Elementary School on North Irby Street and at Central United Methodist Church on West Cheves Street.
And early Thursday morning, a barber shop on the corner of Dargan and Darlington streets went up in flames.
It appears as if someone had forced open the front door of the business, according to police reports.
Meanwhile, workers at the barber shop surveyed the damage themselves Thursday.
“It’s like Hurricane Hugo came through,” said Michael “Toy” Dobson, who runs the barber shop and worked there for 25 years.
“... I was hurting, you know,” he said. “This is the place where the pioneers of barbers came from. This is the oldest existing black barber shop in Florence.”
Dobson said the shop first opened its doors in the 1940s.
“A barber shop is somewhere the guys get away from their families, you know, come here and talk a lot,” he said with a laugh. “That’s a barber shop for ya.”
While the shop is damaged, Dobson said the memories aren’t lost.
“I’m just sorry it’s gone right now, but we got God with us. It will be all right,” he said.
In the meantime, Dobson said, his biggest concern is how he’ll continue making a living.
“It’s how I feed my family. It’s what I do,” he said.
The owners of the building said they plan on re-opening the shop as soon as possible.
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