Barbers’ shops on decline in Chch

Press, 9 December 1976, Page 1

Barbers ’ shops on decline in Chch

By

ALAN KNOWLES

Barbers’ shops have been declining in numbers since the safety razor first appeared on the market: today, the spirally-painted barber’s poles are tumbling almost weekly. In the last 15 years the number of barbers’ shops in Christchurch has more than halved. Last week, alone, two more barbers gave their last short-back-and-sides. The reasons for this modern demise are many, but rising costs and a falling clientele are taking the greatest toll. Although many of the shops display the red, white, and blue stripy pole — or have these colours displayed where there is no pole — their owners dislike being called barbers. They refer to themselves as men’s hairdressers. And hairdressing is a booming business. It is only the old-style barber who is suffering. The two shops which closed last week were Finney’s, Ltd, in High Street, and Woodham’s, at Church Corner. About two months ago McClatchy and Son, of Manchester Street, closed, and in March of next year a wellestablished business in Cashel Street will wind up. Long hair has played an important role in the demise of the men’s hairdresser. Instead of having a haircut each month, many men are visiting their hairdresser only three or four times a year. And when these visits are made the demands for styling are beyond the capabilities of many short-back-and-side barbers. These are generally too old to want to change their ways. And so the unisex salons gain another customer.

It is many years since an apprentice was taken on by an old-style men's hairdresser and now there is no-one to take over the businesses when the present owners retire. Regulations which compel apprentices to attend technical institutes for a morning each week to

learn such sophisticated skills as waving and tinting put the kibosh on the barber’s apprentice. Such skills were not required by men's hairdressers a few years ago and employers could not afford to free their apprentices for a morning each week.

Most of the “barbers" are getting on in life and beginning to consider retirement. Ray Jones is an example. He has been in his shop in the Strand for 42 years and reports business as excellent, but he won’t stay there for ever. When he retires probably within 10 years, there may be no-one to replace him, and his shop could close just as many others have done. However, Ray has changed his style with the times and his shop could attract a hair stylist when he sells.

Large increases in overheads, such as rents, have pushed the price of a haircut up to about $1.50, but many hairdressers regard this as too little to enable them to make a reasonable living wage. The price is likely to rise to more than $2 soon. Many hairdressers cut their own throats by keeping their prices down to retain customers and later finding that the business was not paying. Men’s hairdressers belong to the Canterbury Westland Hairdressers and Tobacconists Association. It had 140 members in 1960, with 90 of them in Christchurch. Today, the association has 65 members, 41 of which are in Christchurch. In all, however, there are only 34 men’s hairdressing shops in Christchurch. One central Christchurch hairdresser who does a brisk business re* fused to change to the new styles: he regards them as effeminate. The short-back-and-sides is the ideal haircut, he says, and it is also masculine. “1 send the fussy ones who want styling away," he adds.