Barbershop likely no more, after six decades

Chances are an Elgin storefront that has been a barbershop for more than 60 years will cease to be so in March.

Tim O'Day, owner of Tim's Place of Barbers, is planning to close his shop at 573 Keep Ave. to join Mustache Cup, a barbershop on the southwest side of Elgin.

The recession was tough on his now 20-year-old business, and customers moved away after losing their jobs or their homes, O'Day said.

The turning point came last summer when a torn rotator cuff sidelined the 63-year-old O'Day for two months. That's when it became clear that renting the shop just wasn't worth it anymore, he said.

"I had to put out the white flag and surrender," he said.

O'Day opened Tim's Place of Barbers in 1995 after barber Bill Johnson passed away. Before Johnson, a series of barbers owned the place dating back to the 1950s, he said.

Tim's had four barbers in the 1990s, but O'Day has been operating alone for about five years.

"My average customers were in their 40s. A lot of working class guys, construction guys and some business people," he said. "With the housing bubble, people started moving away."

Still, he's looking forward to joining Laura Waitzman, owner of the Mustache Cup, whom he's known for years.

"I love doing it," said O'Day, who lived in Elgin until he moved to Belvidere nine years ago.

"Everybody's head is different - and if there is miscommunication between the person getting the haircut and the person doing the haircut, there's problem."

So has he ever had a problem? "Once," he said, sharing no more.

Don Bothwell of Elgin, who's been going to Tim's for about a decade, says he occasionally tries other places but always comes back.

"I like Tim, and he gives good haircuts," he said. "His favorite customer is whoever is on the chair."

A "for sale" sign outside the barbershop hasn't attracted much attention. Paul Lee, whose father, Chul Lee, owns the barbershop and adjacent stores, said there's been no interest from other barbers so far.

O'Day became a barber in the late 1970s after he suffered a serious leg injury in a motorcycle accident in Elgin, and learned the trade through what is now the Department of Human Services' division of rehabilitation services.

That injury eventually caused him to lose his left leg in 1998, which means he now either sits or stands propped against a stool when he cuts hair.

Barber training in his day was a serious affair, consisting of more than 1,800 hours of barber school and a 27-month apprenticeship. "I wasn't comfortable cutting my own hair for five years," he said, adding that today's standards are less stringent.

There's lots of barber shops in Elgin, but few with such a long history and with traditionally trained barbers, O'Day said.

"It's about the styles and the tools, but mostly the technique," he said. "You don't get taught how to cut men's hair anymore."