Barbershop02

Waupaca County Post – Prime Time

October 20, 2005

Barbershop Continues 100-year-old Local Tradition

By Angie Landsverk, Post Staff Writer

For more than 100 years, 113 W. Fulton St. has been the site of a local barbershop.

Chuck Spanbauer and Todd Stevens are the latest to continue the tradition there with their recent opening of Centennial Barber Shop & Salon..

Because of the long history of barbering there, they chose “Centennial” for the name of their new business.

An old picture from their landlord showed a tin ceiling, so they removed the drop ceiling and made the shop appear more as it did in the 1920s. They did much of the tear down themselves, with Wade Stilen and Bob Paschke doing the carpentry. The work included new drywall, flooring, plumbing and electric.

A cream-colored wall paper continues with the old-fashioned feel of the shop, which features a mirrored barber’s back bar and an old cash register they found at Hancock Antiques. A brass spittoon and a large picture of Abe Lincoln were found locally at Ingeborg’s Cupboard Antiques and Collectibles.

Those who had appointments for haircuts last Friday morning were amazed by how different the shop looked.

Spanbauer was raised in Waupaca and cut hair when he was in college.

“I was in printing and publishing for 20 years,” he said. “In the year 2000, I turned 50, and the printing business had to be closed. Technology got the best of us. We were able to sell the publishing business.”

Living in Waupaca meant he would have had to travel to the Fox Valley to find similar work.

Always one to love cooking and entertaining, Spanbauer started a catering business called The Guest Chef and is licensed to work out of the kitchen at the Green Fountain Inn. In addition, he has yet another business in which he helps people who have summer homes in the community make the necessary connections they need.

Now, at age 55, he has decided to take the steps to become a barber and stylist.

Several weeks ago, Spanbauer became a licensed apprentice and has started a two-year program at Fox Valley Technical College. He spends four hours a week in the classroom as part of the program and can cut hair in the shop as long as Stevens is also there.

“I’ve learned so much from Todd just in the months talking to him. He talks me through things.” Spanbauer said.

Stevens lived in Montana his entire life until moving to Waupaca with his family last Nov. 1.

His brother Paul moved to Waupaca about five years ago when he became the youth pastor at Faith Community Church. After his parents visited the area, they moved here.

Stevens explained how he came to move here with his wife, Michelle, and their children.

“I’m a fanatical fisherman. I was a trout fisherman all my life,” he said. “I came here and saw all these new species to conquer. I was salivating.”

Spanbauer and Stevens met at church.

Stevens loves to cut hair and was in his early 20s when he realized that was what he wanted to do. Stevens is a master barber and maser stylist.

“I’ve been doing it over 10 years and owned my own shop for a good portion of that,” he said.

His wife is also a stylist and will be working there part time and will do all the additional services, such as facials, waxing and manicures.

Stevens also does manicures, and Spanbauer will be learning how to do them as well. Eventually, the will over pedicures and sports pedicures for men.

While the front of the shop is definitely for the men, the area in the back is designed for women clientele.

It is decorated with a wedding dress from the 1920s and also features a framed picture from that era of Spanbauer’s grandmother, Carlene Woody. There is china for drinking tea. In addition to tea, they offer coffee and juice for all their customers.

Stevens said they want each woman who walks into the back area to feel as if she has come to an oasis.

A key factor in their new business is their hours.

Centennial Barber Shop & Salon is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and from 6 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

Stevens, who worked at several different places in town, says that once you work for yourself, it is what you want to return to.

Music from the 1920s and 1930s plays in the background, and theirs is the only shop doing a straight-razor shave. Other services offered include dry cleaning and shoe shines.

Stevens said they have had an overall positive response from the other stylists in town, and with both being Christian men, the one thing they will not tolerate in their hop is gossip.

“We have a no-gossip rule,” Stevnes said. “I’m a Raiders fan, and so we have a rule that if I’m doing it or he is (starting to gossip), we say, ‘How about those Raiders?”

He said they want their shop to be a place where people feel comfortable. One thing they are doing is collecting business cards fro clients, so that if someone mentions during a hair cut that they are looking for a particular service, Stevens and Spanbauer can help them find people to do the work.

They have also started the Centennial Club for Men. For a one-time fee, clients in the club can get all their hair-cut needs for a month.

Spanbauer said maybe a man will come in for a haircut around the beginning of the month and then need his neck or sideburns trimmed sometime within the same month.

Club members also receive a polo shirt and will also be able to receive tickets to sporting events at cost. A goal is to have a Centennial Club Cruise next spring.

“It’s a way to foster fellowship and create a club,” he said. “We have foundry workers, young men in their 20s and 30s, landscapers.”

The two men are searching for the history of the building, saying they would like to do a sort of “roll call” of the many barbers who have worked there in the last 100 years.

They wonder how man haircuts have been given through the years.

Speaking of haircuts, Centennial makes a very big deal out of baby’s first haircut.

“They get a cupcake and balloon, and mom gets a portfolio with the hair in it,” Spanbauer said. Pictures of the events will be featured in the shop as well.

Customers will likely notice a large framed print that portrays an old-fashioned barbershop hanging on one of the walls in the shop.

Spanbauer found it at Framing by Preston Home and Wildlife Gallery and gave it to Stevens as a gift when they opened the shop.

Both said they are excited to be part of the revitalization on West Fulton Street, which began with Rat Packs Retro Lounge and now includes the Paint Store’s move into the former Senior Center.

“We’re very excited about being part of the downtown project,” Spanbauer said. “We will be setting a grand opening and will have a barbershop quartet. We’ll probably have some of my food, too.”