A weekend break-in at House of Hoops Barbershop in West Charlotte prompted owner Brian Mack to make an appeal for accountability and a second chance. Surveillance footage shows about eight masked people breaking through the shop's front glass doors and taking sneakers, hair clippers and shavers.
House of Hoops is on Little Rock Road, where Mack opened the shop in July 2024 with help from his son, B.J. Mack, a former University of South Carolina basketball player who put his Name, Image and Likeness earnings toward his father's business, according to WCNC. The shop was designed as a community gathering place, with Charlotte basketball memorabilia throughout. The sneakers taken in the break-in were leftover inventory from a recent free giveaway, rather than merchandise for sale, Queen City News reported.
The burglary also left the small business with property damage. Mack said repairing the shattered front door cost $800, and that customers were waiting outside when the shop reopened the next morning.
A Different Kind of Response
Mack has asked the person or people responsible to apologize and offered Saturday work at the barbershop in exchange for cleaning up. He has said he was involved in a gang when he was younger and views the offer as an opportunity to redirect the teens rather than simply punish them.
Existing Youth Resources
According to Charlotte Works, its NCWorks NextGen Youth programs serve young people ages 16-24 through career advising, mentoring and leadership development. The organization lists West Charlotte High School among schools eligible for some programming. An archived account from the United Way of Greater Charlotte says its United Neighborhoods initiative launched in 2017 with a $2.4 million, three-year commitment to Renaissance and Grier Heights. The account describes Little Rock Apartments as part of the Renaissance footprint and says community partners provided youth programs and job training there.
Mack said detectives believe the vehicle used in the break-in may also be connected to a separate vape-store burglary in Charlotte. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is investigating the House of Hoops case. Mack's proposal has also drawn community support, though the available reporting does not indicate whether any suspect has been identified or charged.
What Is Known About the Investigation
North Carolina law distinguishes burglary under North Carolina General Statute § 14-51 from felonious breaking or entering, which is described as a Class H felony in the cited legal analysis from Carolina Attorneys. The available reporting does not specify the suspects' ages, whether anyone has been charged or which offenses investigators might consider.
That leaves the relationship between Mack's proposed Saturday work and the police investigation unresolved. His offer is a community response, not an indication that the criminal investigation has ended.
Youth Opportunity and Neighborhood Resources
The case also raises a practical question beyond the investigation: what employment, mentoring and neighborhood resources are available to young people in west Charlotte and along the Little Rock Road corridor?
The break-in comes amid ongoing attention to commercial burglaries and juvenile crime in Charlotte. CMPD's 2025 annual public safety report found overall juvenile crime incidents fell 11% citywide, while juvenile property-crime suspects fell 19%, as Hoodline previously reported. Those figures do not lessen the immediate financial effect of a break-in on a small business.
Other Charlotte barbershops have faced property threats. A stray bullet shattered the storefront of the Distinguished Gentleman barbershop in East Charlotte during a nearby shooting, and owner Eddie Catlin called for peace, according to WBTV. Mack's Saturday-work proposal places House of Hoops' response within that broader conversation about safety, opportunity and community support.
