Seddon barber Doug Howie has vowed to keep working, despite his iconic Seddon barbershop being set for the chop.
Mr Howie last week discovered that the bright yellow Williamstown Road salon, home to his business for more than 15 years, will be redeveloped as housing.
But despite the setback, the 70-year-old says he wants to go on for at least another 30 years.
“I’m not retiring, I’m just moving on. I’m going to try to find a shop as close as I can. Even if I end up in a tin shed, I will cut hair.”
Mr Howie has been locking lops for 56 years. He picked up his first scissors as a 14-year-old when his “silver-tongued” policeman father got him an apprenticeship after he was kicked out of school.
Aside from those first few years in Healesville and a handful in Bourke Street in the CBD, the Williamstown resident has always plied his trade in Seddon, and he’s a witness to the area’s rapid change.
“When I came to Gamon Street, easily 80 per cent of my customers were older. There were about 40-50 factories and I never stopped all day, every day. Now 98 per cent of them are dead and I’m the old one,” he says.
Mr Howie is the first to admit he has grown a little eccentric over the years – ‘Odd Sweeney’ being one name he has toyed with for the shop – but he says the customers keep coming back.
“It’s word of mouth. My wife calls me Basil, from Fawlty Towers, but I can cut hair. I’ve got great pride in my work; I love it and I do every haircut as if it’s a competition.”
Mr Howie’s shop is renowned for its assortment of odds and ends from around the world, a collection built from scratch.
“My brother, a long, long time ago gave me a dingo trap. He said, ‘Put this in your shop and you’ll have something to talk about’. I did, then someone brought in a rabbit trap. Then people started bringing lamps,” he said. “It’s my little world. I’ve had it in every shop I’ve had … I couldn’t work in a normal place any more.”
