The technological revolution has transformed the way we live and do business over the last decade, but perhaps one area that hasn't been shaken is the hair industry. People still have hair and still need it cut.
And for almost 60 years in New Westminster, Elks Barbershop has been there to do it. Guy Quesnel operates the shop. He is the third generation of his family to run the Elks, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.
"His father and his grandfather both cut my hair. I started going there when I was about 15 years old," says Carl Strand, a North Delta resident.
"I would take the bus in from Coquitlam.
The barbers in Coquitlam cut your hair the way they wanted to cut it. A friend of my said, 'At least there they will cut your hair the way you want it.'"
Strand has never lived in New Westminster, but has always commuted to the local business, wherever he was living at the time.
"They have a union shop sign on the wall. They have been members of the barbers union for years," he says. "I have been a union man all my life - it was a loyalty to that to some degree. It's just family loyalty."
As he approaches his 65th birthday, Strand suspects he's the longest serving customer at the Elks Barbershop.
Nick Quesnel opened the shop on Carnarvon Street in 1954. His sons, Lowell and Donald, also entered the barbering business. Lowell would later move into real estate (his daughter Tracey Davies in a well-known New West realtor).
"My dad became a barber in about '67," Guy says. "He apprenticed there, and then he opened a shop in Port Moody. Lowell became a realtor in 1970s, and then dad took over the shop."
The entire family lived in New West, and Guy grew up here as well, attending school first at Herbert Spencer Elementary, then going to Lord Tweedsmuir and New Westminster Secondary School.
Today, Guy's barbershop is on Sixth Street near the uptown IHOP. Guy works alone since his father passed away in 2003.
Guy went to barbering school in the '70s and started in the trade a few years later.
"Seeing how my dad, my uncle and my grandfather, they all were able to do OK in it financially," he says, explaining why he got into the business. "I like people. I like owning my own business."
Classic barbering has become trendy in recent years, with more and more men seeking out Boardwalk Empire-inspired cuts and a little piece of nostalgia (perhaps in the face of so many changes to modern life).
"I don't know how they are trained nowadays. We all went to barber school," Guys says.
Guy says as recently as last week someone walked into the shop and asked to buy it from him, but the 57-year-old says he has no plans to retire yet.
He's still enjoying his work and the camaraderie. So, at least for now, Mr. Strand will still have somewhere to go for a good haircut.
Niki Hope is a reporter with The Record. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NikimHope.
