While the area around it has changed dramatically, Queens Chapel Barber Shop has largely remained the same over its eight decades in business.

Started in 1941, the barber shop at 3108 Hamilton St. near the West Hyattsville Metro station still has large metal chairs, a wall-length mirror bedecked with tiny American flags and an old-fashioned barber pole mounted outside.

Over the years, Queens Chapel Barber has had different owners. In 2000, Vietnamese immigrants Sang and Tina Nguyen left jobs at a mattress company and as a nursing assistant to take over the shop, using money they had saved while cutting hair at other shops.

“They scoured the county for different barber shops, but when they saw this barber shop and the community it was in, it was love at first sight,” their oldest son, Tony, once said.

Sang Nguyen died in 2019 at the age of 57, and Tina Nguyen borrowed money from the federal government during the pandemic to keep the shop running.

But Queens Chapel Barber was bustling recently as it celebrated its 80th anniversary, which came with an official proclamation from the city. One of the residents in attendance has been a customer of Queens Chapel Barber for 59 years.

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