The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Making adjustments
Barber shop switches to appointments due to pandemic
For half a century, staff at Ron’s Northview Barber Shop has been cutting hair for those in North Ridgeville and beyond.
The shop, currently owned by Travis Franke at 34958 Center Ridge Road, prides itself on quality haircuts and customer safety.
“I’ve personally worked here for 21 years, and I’ve owned it for the last 12 years,” Franke said. “It’s always been Ron’s Northview Barber Shop. It has always been in this building.
“Ron (Granneman) died this past year. He opened the barber shop in 1967.”
Franke said the big change for the barber shop was moving to appointments for the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve always been a walk-in business; you could walk and there would be 20 people waiting,” he said. “We determined that appointments were going to be our option. It would allow us to keep a safe amount of people in here while also making sure we get to as many customers as we could.
“Right now, with appointments it’s generally just me and Ed (Rodriguez, barber), his customer, my customer and a parent or caretaker.
“On average, there are about five or so people, including me and Ed, in the shop at a given time.”
Adjustment
Franke said it took some adjusting for patrons to adopt the new appointment-based system.
“This business has been here for over 50 years; it has always been walk-in,” he said. “People are just used to that format.
“When we first did, we also let some walk in to choose an appointment time, but it has since gone very well. Our state board has been very good, and we’ve always been inspected regularly without any issues.”
Franke said the barber shop incorporated mask wearing.
“We wear masks and customers wear masks,” he said. “Some customers feel they don’t need to or shouldn’t have to wear masks ... so it’s been giveand-take with that as well.
“But, customers have been pretty considerate and respectful for the most part.”
Franke said the barber chairs and seats are constantly cleaned.
“We try to keep folks safe, and one of those things we’ve done for the pandemic, is swapping the chair cloths,” he said. “Standard operating procedure was that you would just have the same cloth on the whole day.
“We rotate three chair cloths. When I take one off, I spray it and then hang it up. We also spray the waiting chairs. It wasn’t something we were told to do, but it’s a good safety measure for our customers.”
Classic appeal
Franke said the barber shop has that classic appeal.
“We’re a classic, neighborhood barber shop,” he said. “We work well with children. We have some customers with varying degrees of autism that come here and are very comfortable getting their hair done here.
“We also still offer the old-fashioned flat tops that not every shop does.”
Dave Schuster, a Berea resident, said he is a longtime customer at the shop.
“I would shine shoes and mop the floor in the shop when I was 14, 15 years old growing up in (North) Ridgeville,” Schuster said. “I used to ride my bike up here on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“Ron used to cut my hair until he became ill. Even though I moved to Berea, I still come back here. There is a lot of history here.
“Everyone knows Ron’s barber shop. This has been an icon in the community.”
Rodriguez was a former customer at the shop before he started cutting hair.
“I used to come here to get my hair cut,” he said. “I graduated in 1991 from (North) Ridgeville High School, so I’m from here; I’ve been working here for 15 years.”
Franke said the shop has remained in the same building.
However, in the late 1990s, the building was moved.
“This whole building used to be where the CVS is (35000 Center Ridge Road), and faced the other way,” he said. “That’s why it’s called Ron’s Northview Barbershop.
“But, the building moved slightly to the north and we are now facing to the south. Our address is still on Center Ridge even though we are now closer to Jaycox (Road). That move was in 1998.”
Franke said he could have started his own shop, but he has loved being a part of Ron’s.
“Ron, I don’t think he ever wanted to see this place stop going. I wanted to stay in Ridgeville. There was more convenience for me to stay here, and it has been going very well.”