H. White Men\u2019s Room is not your typical barbershop; and that\u2019s because owner Houston White is not your typical barber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For White, haircuts bring people in the door at 1500 44th Ave. N. in Minneapolis, but once he\u2019s got people in the door he wants to expose his clientele to something greater. That something greater comes in the form of a coffee shop and caf\u00e9 inside the location and a comfortable, contemporary lounging area outside, lined with meticulously maintained cypress bushes. That something greater has also manifested into a clothing line that has sparked a movement. That movement is Black Excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To understand how White arrived to the point of (Black) excellence, one must first journey back to when the enterprising barber was a teenager. With an entrepreneurial mind, but misguided course, White did what others have done (and continue to do) \u2013 he sold drugs. And like most, he got caught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI got pinched,\u201d bluntly stated White. \u201cI was in court and I was facing some years and the judge said to me, \u2018If I see you again in my court you\u2019ll do time, but if you stay out of trouble your record will be expunged.\u2019 From that moment on I never touched drugs again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, at 18, White picked up clippers, shears, razors and hot towels. He linked up with David Johnson and together they rehabbed a building on Plymouth Avenue North and opened Mass Appeal. Quickly the shop became the go-to spot for cuts and conversation with an elite clientele that included former Minnesota Vikings Randy Moss and Cris Carter, former Timberwolves star Terrell Brandon and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were wildly successful,\u201d said White. \u201cMy first year barbering \u2013 at 19 \u2013 I made $60,000.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most would have been satisfied \u2013 beyond satisfied \u2013 at that, but White is not most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to take it up a notch,\u201d recalled White, who said his partner had differing ideas for growth. \u201cThat meeting didn\u2019t go well. There was a natural resistance to change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having transformed Mass Appeal from a five-chair business to a 10-chair establishment, and doing most of the work themselves, White was accustomed to working in building rehab. This led to his next career; buying distressed homes, fixing them up and selling them. Today the practice is more commonly known as \u201cflipping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI figured I flipped Mass Appeal, I can flip a home,\u201d said White. \u201cI kept buying houses and my wife and I would live in them, get the equity out and flip them and move into another. My wife is wonderful because we must have moved about 10, 11 \u2026 12 times. I was barbering by day and doing construction at night. I was working like 17 hours a day. God bless my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, the entrepreneur grew beyond flipping one house at a time and had moved up to major \u2013 from the ground-up \u2013 construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI remember my first major project. I bought land in Brooklyn Park and built my first custom home. It was a $470,000 home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a home builder and remodeler White said he built 20 new homes and remodeled another 30. Everything was going wonderfully, then, almost in an instant, it all fell apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was building a custom home in Golden Valley and the market crashed,\u201d remembered White. \u201cWe were already a million dollars in and I had to finish the house on my own dime. Banks weren\u2019t lending and then I couldn\u2019t sell it. We were stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No longer flying high, White shed all his luxuries and started over. It was starting over that brought White back to barbering and towards Black Excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere were lawsuits and there was bankruptcy. I had to get rid of my Mercedes, my Tahoe, my Audi A8. We had to start all over,\u201d said White. \u201cI told my wife we\u2019re going to buy this building (that is now H. White Men\u2019s Room) and we\u2019re going to live upstairs. We lived upstairs in the apartment above the shop for four years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With H. White Men\u2019s Room, the concept White talked about years earlier was finally realized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI opened with the vision of creating a high-end, upscale barbershop. I wanted it to be more of a gentlemen\u2019s club,\u201d said the visionary, White. \u201cI created a system. At most barbershops each station is its own business \u2013 there\u2019s no continuity. I wanted everything crisp. This has to be about the overall brand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to branding his shop, White is doing another sort of branding; this one with broader implications and reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About a year ago, people were around town sporting t-shirts and hats with two simple, yet powerful words \u2013 Black Excellence. The apparel was a concept of White\u2019s that gained traction with the help of his friend \u2013 now employee, Anthony Jennings, Sr. In the Twin Cities the brand has taken off to the point that it is as common to see someone in Black Excellence as it is to see someone sporting major, international brands. And with social media and the internet, people outside of the area are donning the brand. Just this past week a Minneapolis resident in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Summer Olympics and was photographed wearing Black Excellence gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor me, Black Excellence is more than a transactional relationship. It\u2019s bigger than a shirt,\u201d said White. \u201cI want people to feel regal when they\u2019re wearing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a part of the Black Excellence movement, White and Jennings have come up with Black Excellence Day. Aug. 20 they are hosting a community celebration at the shop and they are asking people \u2013 even those who do not attend \u2013 to wear their Black Excellence gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennings said White is someone we can all learn from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the same age and I\u2019m not ashamed to say that this man is my mentor,\u201d said Jennings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
H. White Men\u2019s Room is not your typical barbershop; and that\u2019s because owner Houston White is not your typical barber. For White, haircuts bring people in the door at 1500 44th Ave. N. in Minneapolis, but once he\u2019s got people in the door he wants to expose his clientele to something greater. That something greater […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4699,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[847,2887,38],"class_list":["post-4698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-black-excellence","tag-houston-white","tag-minneapolis","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-10-4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4700,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4698\/revisions\/4700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}