LONGMONT — Orville Christianson has seen a tremendous amount of hair.
Today, he still sees a lot of hair, but it’s his children who are doing the cutting.
His shop at 339 Main St. is the longest continuously operating business in the city, having first opened its doors as a barbershop in the 1870s. Christianson bought the Elite Barber Shop business in 1972.
“When I bought it, it was a one-chair shop. But in the years since we got it up to a four-chair shop, business was good,” he says on a busy Friday morning, as his two sons and one granddaughter are busy cutting hair. “I sure have had a lot of fun.”
The U.S. Department of Labor reports there are about 400 barbers in Colorado.
These are people who provide barbering services, such as cutting, trimming, shampooing and styling hair, trimming beards or giving shaves. Barbers are not the same as hair stylists. Barbers go through different training than stylists — training that lasts up to a year. It includes a written exam and a practical demonstration. In the U.S., every state has its own barbering board. After training, one has to go to the board and apply for a license.
Christianson’s shop looks the part. The pristine chairs, bar and sinks are all from 1926 and in mint condition. The hardwood floors are original to the shop. The walls are covered with historical black and white photographs that show the shop’s history.
“I don’t know of any business downtown that was here when I started,” he says. “I feel fortunate to have kept it going all these years.”
Scott Keil has been coming to Elite for most of those years — 40 of them.
“My dad was used to me being here when I was a kid,” Keil said. “Now I bring my kids here, and I think they will bring their kids here. It’s comfortable. It’s fun. You can hear good stories. I tried other shops, but they never felt comfortable. This is home.”
Mark Flowers has been going to Elite since 1965, seven years before Orville Christianson bought the business.
“I get a cut once a month. They do a great job; it’s a real fine cut,” Flowers said as he waited his turn in the chair.
Historically, barbershops don’t feel the impact of a recession like other businesses do, because hair doesn’t stop growing and people still need a cut. But other things do have an impact on the hair business.
“When I started barbering, people got their hair cut every two weeks,” Christianson recalled. “So the long hair did hurt some business in the ’70s. A lot of people got their hair cut once or twice a year all of a sudden.”
But he survived.
“When people started growing their hair long, a lot of other barbers didn’t want to cut the long hair. So they all went out of business. I don’t know, they just didn’t want to cut long hair,” he said. “We always did what the customer wanted, so we would cut the long hair. That’s the reason we could keep going and become a four-chair shop.”
Today, the shop is managed by Mike Christianson, the oldest of the sons. Mike’s daughter Nicole also works there, as well as another of Orville’s sons, Jeff.
“They do a good job,” the senior Christianson said. He retired from the business in 2007 but remains a fixture in the shop.
“Nothing complements our historic downtown better than Longmont’s oldest business,” said Kimberlee McKee of the Longmont Downtown Development Authority. “The prominent barber pole is a showpiece of Main Street, a reminder of our past but also a sign that business is still alive and well today.”
It’s a business that Christianson said has changed little since 1972.
“I think barbering is the profession that’s changed the least over the years. The technology really hasn’t changed that much,” he said. “The scissors are the same, and the comb is the same.”
