I was barely through the front door of downtown Nashua fixture Chuck’s Barber Shop when owner Sue Reynolds set down her clippers to greet me.

“Did I tell you about my miracle?” she chirped, looking like someone who had indeed been visited by a miracle.

I wondered, a lottery hit? New grandchild? A cured disease? A new litter of puppies?

Not even close.

To Reynolds and her unique, all-woman staff of barbers who more than ably carry on the deep-rooted Nashua barbershop founded decades ago by the late Charles “Chuck” Aveni, a miracle is defined as being able at long last to say with certainty that they have a place to set up shop when the lights go out at 168 Main St.

Believe me, from what Reynolds told me, toting barber chairs, mirrors, shears and piles of magazines diagonally across Main Street next week will be a far shorter and easier trip than the long, anxious search for a new home that ended happily, albeit at the 11th hour.

If all goes well, Reynolds said with crossed fingers, everything will be up and running at 1151?2 Main St. come her long-hoped-for grand opening date of May 31.

That was still up in the air as of late Friday, but Reynolds, as she is wont to do, is sure the positive attitude and faith that have gotten her this far will once again come through.

Granted, moving a small, or even large, business isn’t exactly front page news these days. But when word gets out that an indelible landmark as steeped in Nashua culture as Chuck’s Barber Shop is facing a move-out deadline and is having trouble finding a place to go, any self-respecting community advocate will, or at least should, stand up and take notice.

The fact barbershops in general are by their very nature such idyllic, homey and warmly social places (think Floyd’s, of “Andy Griffith Show” fame) makes the specter of losing any one of them, especially such enduring ones like Chuck’s, to the land of big boxes and strip malls is enough to furrow many a brow.

Reynolds, suffice to say, is a woman of faith. And she loved her predecessors, Chuck Aveni and especially, Rino Long, whose 2008 death rattled his protege.

But, she’ll tell you, it also reaffirmed her faith and made her want nothing more than to carry on their legacy.

Reynolds sort of came of age as a barber in the rectangle of a space that was once the variety-store half of the old Transfer Luncheonette. Divided decades ago – even before Chuck’s moved into the middle of the little strip, which fronts the historic Spalding Building – it grew roots rapidly and, under Reynolds and her gregarious team, became more than a place to get your hair cut.

For Reynolds and her neighbors, the scramble to relocate began last fall, triggered by the Main Street United Methodist Church’s decision to raze the strip in order to add on to the church, pretty up the space and better showcase the handsome Spalding facade.

After an early possibility fell through, Reynolds thought she was on the right path when an old friend – and customer – who manages the Bank of America building at Main and High streets for its out-of-state owners mentioned that space was open on the lower level.

Despite the manager’s best efforts, Reynolds said, the faraway ownership dragged its collective feet, even after Reynolds agreed to the terms and to spend a few grand to divide the space and put in a separate HVAC system.

Nearly at wit’s end, she just happened – this is where her miracle begins – to run into another old friend, Phil Bouchard, the longtime Nashua insurance man who owns 111-117 Main St., and just happened to have a new vacancy he wanted to fill.

“Hey, I’ve got a great space for you, if you’re still looking,” Bouchard offered.

Reynolds nearly fainted.

“I was on my way to the lawyer with the lease for the other building,” she said in a can-you-believe-it tone.

“He took me to look at it and I started crying, it was so perfect.”

Into the recycler went the fat packet the bank folks called a lease. With Bouchard, Reynolds said, the process was refreshingly simple and quick. Things were rolling.

Even the city and state permit people, seeing Reynolds’ eagerness to be in, up and running for May 31, put a little rush on things.

Some type of celebration will take place on May 31, Reynolds vowed. If the new space isn’t quite ready, they’ll host it at 168 Main St. with sort of a last-day-here theme.

Regardless, Reynolds is OK with being a little giddy these days.

“Look what my faith brought me,” she said. “It got me the best barbershop in southern New Hampshire.

“Call it the ‘Miracle on Main Street.’?”

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears Saturdays in The Telegraph. He can be reached at 594-6443 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Shalhoup on Twitter (@Telegraph_DeanS).