More Than 100 Years Later, St. Pierres Still Lowering Ears in Williamstown
 Roger St. Pierre decided to add a little humor to the shop's sign by pointing out that it is "only 3 hours from Fenway Park." His business cards even have a small map from the park to Williamstown printed on them. |
"I am a third generation barber," said Roger St. Pierre, current proprietor of St. Pierre's Barbershop. "I started working part-time in the shop when I was 18. It was on the northwest side of the street."
Now on a wall in the shop, a photograph dated 1912 shows St. Pierre's great uncle Louis St. Pierre standing in front of a barbershop with the owner Bill Kirby. In 1915, Kirby retired and sold the shop to the St. Pierres, according to information gleaned from the Williamstown Museum of History. The new owner renamed the shop, using the family surname, and thereby founded St. Pierre's Barbershop.
The next family member to own and operate the barbershop was Roger St. Pierre's uncle Armond St. Pierre. In later years, the shop changed hands twice, and though the new proprietors were not St. Pierres, the name of the shop was not changed by ownership.
"I purchased the barbershop in the spring of 1977 from Bud Anderson. He was the nicest man I ever knew and an absolute delight to work with," said Roger St. Pierre, now 62. "Bud purchased the shop from Jerry Maloney who purchased it from my Uncle Armand. Jerry and Uncle Armand were also fun to work with. I was truly blest with great mentors."
The year 1977 was exciting for St. Pierre and his wife for not only did they acquire a business, but they were new parents as well.
"We sort of had two families," St. Pierre said, referring to the couple's son being born more than 12 years after their daughter.
When Roger St. Pierre bought the shop, it was located next to Images Cinema on the east side of the street.
"It was there from 1970 until 1989," St. Pierre said.
Then it was moved to its present site at the head of Spring Street, and St. Pierre had a new sign designed to more than identify the shop. An addition read : 'Only 3 Hours From Fenway Park.' He explained that he usually placed a funny ad in the Williams yearbook and decided to inject humor into the sign too.
The Walk, a tradition that partnered the Williams College football team and St. Pierre's Barbershop brought the news media to the shop, cameras and note pads in hand.
"(The tradition) began in 1971," said St. Pierre. "I was much younger then and knew several of the football players really well. Homecoming - the last game of the season - they would come to the barbershop to celebrate, smoking cigars, drinking cold beverages and talking about the game."
In later years, the entire team walked from Weston Field to the barber shop after a win. The first time 75-85 football players charged into the 20 square-foot barbershop, St Pierre perched next to the cash register and watched as the players sang songs.
"(At the celebrations) upper classmen give freshmen haircuts, too - Mohawks or leave just tufts of hair," St. Pierre said.
Features about that tradition have appeared in prestigious publications such as the Boston Globe, and Sports Illustrated touted The Walk as "The Best Post Game Tradition in America."
In 1992, St. Pierre did something his predecessors had never done: he hired a woman barber. Denise La Belle had experience in the industry and "I needed a barber and she was looking for a job," St. Pierre said matter-of-factly.
"Some men wouldn't sit in my chair but when they gave me a chance they were surprised," LaBelle said in the shop recently at the end of a work day.
The third generation barber appreciates that he has a steady trade and a good diversity in clients. The older folk like to reminisce about the past, he mentioned. St. Pierre himself remembers when Spring Street had a cobbler, a courthouse, two bookstores, a bakery, a clothing store called 'The House of Walsh,' an eatery called 'The Gym' and a coffee shop called 'Bette's Life and Times.'
Continuing to speak of his customers St. Pierre said, "You get to know them - who you can have a heart-to-heart with."
He steers clear of controversy and if he feels the conversation is heading that way, he directs it to another topic. It is a skill, he said, that his family does not know how he developed.
"I guess it comes from experience. You learn not to go near fire once you get burned," St. Pierre supposes.
In his 40 years as a barber, St. Pierre has seen clients' taste in hair styles change.
"When I started hair cuts were very traditional, but rapidly went to longer hair when I went into the service," he said, referring to enlisting in the Army during the Vietnam era.
"Business changed drastically with people not getting hair cuts every 2 weeks but in 6 months," he said. "We were lucky, we picked up customers from shops that closed due to the loss in trade."
Though customers, over the years, have requested Mohawks, buzz cuts and duck tail cuts, St. Pierre said "Traditional cuts have always been our bread and butter."
St. Pierre believes the barbershop is a wealth of knowledge.
"If you sit back and listen, you can learn a lot," he said and then quoted Abraham Lincoln: "''Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt.'"
St. Pierre smiled as he added, "But not many people have accused me of being silent."
