In 50 years, the town of Milton, Ont., has seen plenty of change, but one constant throughout that time was Mike’s Barber Shop.
Its owner Mike Boughton recently sold the business due to health reasons — but the 71-year-old isn’t quite ready to give up the dream that started for him in 1965.
“My boss at the time asked me, ‘Mike, would you consider becoming a barber?’ because he wanted to expand,” Boughton tells CBC Toronto.
“I went home and talked to my father and he said, ‘You’ll never beat having a trade, Mike,’ so I decided to take up the barbering trade,” he adds. “I went to school in 1965 for 10 months … and here I am today, 51 years later.”
Boughton plans to continue cutting hair three days a week (Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays) because he loves interacting with his regulars and clients.
“I just love the people,” he says, noting his best customer is an 18-month-old toddler. “I would say 95 per cent of all the people that come in, they become a friend of mine, and I’ve just enjoyed it immensely.”
‘A haircut always makes a person feel better’
Boughton says he is on his fifth generation of families, and estimates he has about 75 families who frequent his shop. He puts that down to providing a good service and going above and beyond for his customers.
“If a client is sick at home or in hospital, I’ll go and cut their hair because a haircut always makes a person feel better,” he says. “They always want to pay me but I say, ‘No the haircut is on me.'”
After three of his clients died of cancer in 1993 — a 32-year-old father and his two children — Boughton started a charity golf tournament that has since raised $1 million.
Source: CBC News Toronto
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