Small Business and the City by Rafael Gomez & Andrew Isakov & Matt Semanksky

Author:Rafael Gomez & Andrew Isakov & Matt Semanksky
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4426-9651-8
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2015-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

The Local Barber Shop’s Place in a Neighbourhood

Not far down the road from Squibb’s, along a curious side street called John Street, is Pete’s Barber Shop. Like many long-standing neighbourhood barber shops, it is the quintessential male environment. In this case, the shop is laden with hockey paraphernalia. A quick Google search reveals that many of hockey’s greatest players have shown up at Pete’s shop and have had their pictures taken there. If you are a Toronto Maple Leaf of any renown and have not entered Pete’s for the obligatory photo-op, then your credentials in “Leaf Nation” are severely diminished.

Not surprisingly, the owner of Pete’s Barber Shop is none other than Peter Kalamaris, a first-generation Westonite who took over the running of the shop from his father, Pantelis (Peter) Kalamaris, Senior, who passed away just after our first interview in the fall of 2011. Readers of this book may want to have a look at the store’s website and the wonderful eulogy written by Peter, Junior, about his dad. Like many immigrants arriving in Canada in the early 1960s, Pete found that his hairdressing credentials from Greece were not initially recognized, so he opened his shop a decade or so later, after toiling away in many part-time jobs.

And what about Peter the son?

Peter’s story reads like a scene from the Frank Capra movie It’s a Wonderful Life, in which George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, puts aside his own aspirations for college and world travel in order to take over his father’s small-town savings-and-loan company. In the late 1990s, Peter put aside his own teaching career in order to help his father manage the barber shop. Judging by how enthusiastic Peter is about his neighbourhood, his shop, and what he thinks needs to be done to turn Weston’s fortunes around, it seems he has no regrets about leaving his teaching career behind. And after spending just a few minutes in his dad’s barber shop, one can see why.

The place is like a miniature Hockey Hall of Fame, and the customers are as big a part of the ambiance as Peter or the shop’s iconic contents. Only a few minutes after starting our conversation, a customer receiving a close shave pipes up to explain the enduring appeal of Pete’s establishment: “Sure he’s a half decent barber [sarcastically] but you can get a haircut and a close shave anywhere in the city ... but not in a place like this!” The customer gestures towards the walls covered in hockey memorabilia.

The customer then adds his own take on the shop’s vibe: “It’s like hanging out at your friend’s house. You have fun … and then he cuts your hair!”

After receiving a haircut, the customer and Pete proceed to play a spirited game of table hockey, during which Pete taunts the customer, repeatedly boasting that he is going to beat him. Pete clearly displays a highly personalized and irreverent style of customer service: “I don’t provide any customer service! My customers get abuse!” he says.

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