Nor'West News: August 20, 2019

8 Tuesday August 20 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
News
NOR’WEST NEWS
Bowing out after 300,000-plus haircuts
• By Claire Booker
WHEN JOHN Thompson was
21, he dreamed of becoming a
hairdresser. Now 50 years later,
with more than 300,000 hair
cuts under his belt, the Redwood
resident still loves it.
But his business on Coppell Pl
in Hoon Hay will close its doors
for good at the end of the month.
The barber shop has been
Mr Thompson’s second home
since 1969, but it’s time to put
the clippers down and the capes
away and enjoy his retirement.
His loyal clients will miss his
friendly nature.
A client of 50 years, Jack
Jordan, 88, said: “He’s just a
damn nice guy.
“A couple of times when I was
crook, or I’d been to the hospital,
he’d come to my house and cut it
for the same price,” he said.
The lease on the building Mr
Thompson has occupied for the
past 50 years has expired, and he
wasn’t given the opportunity to
renew it.
He said when he was first given
the news that he had to be out of
the building within a month, he
was shocked, but said that’s just
the way things go.
The 71-year-old will now retire
after 54 years as a barber.
The barber shop Mr Thompson
occupies was where his hair
was cut as a child, and when he
PHOTO:
MARTIN
HUNTER
turned 21, he bought the business
and hasn’t looked back since.
“I remember coming home
from school one day and saying
[to his father] I think I want to be
a hairdresser,” he said.
In September, he would have
marked his 50th year of owning
the business, but he will have to
close the doors just a few days
before the anniversary.
The red leather barber’s chairs
in the shop have been around
since 1956, and Mr Thompson
said he will sell them once the
business closes. Otherwise, his
house will become too cluttered.
In the antique leather chairs,
he has seen many boys argue
with their mum about the length
of hair they want.
“A boy would get shorter
than he wanted, but not as
short as mum was hoping,” Mr
Thompson said.
He’s seen it all in his years of
hairdressing, from short to very
long, and the mullets in between.
TRIM: John
Thompson
gives Jack
Gordon, who
has been his
client for 50
years, a bit
of a tidy up
before he
closes the
doors at the
end of the
month.
(Right) – Mr
Thompson
cuts his
nephew’s
hair in the
kitchen of
his home
about 25
years ago.
Mr Jordan his longest-serving
client and has been getting
his hair cut there before Mr
Thompson owned the shop.
He said the place “hasn’t
changed a hell of a lot” over the
years.
He never has to tell Mr
Thompson what he wants,
because his hairstyle never
changes.
“I’ll never find anyone like this
will I,” Mr Jordan said.
Mr Thompson is upset he was
given such short notice to close
the business.
“Going quickly doesn’t give me
time to thank them [clients] all,”
he said.
Mr Thompson will miss
meeting people and the
rewarding feeling of people
bringing their grandchildren
in for a trim so he can cut three
generations of hair.
“They’re more than just
customers,” he said.
Mr Thompson will finish
his last hair cut at the shop on
August 29.
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