In 1949, Harry S. Truman was sworn in as president and unveiled his Fair Deal program; the first Emmy awards were presented; the first Volkswagen car was brought to the U.S. and sold; world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis retired; Israel was admitted to the United Nations; Hopalong Cassidy, the first television western, aired – and The Barber Pole barber shop opened in Birmingham, Michigan.
Now in its 70th year, The Barber Pole is Birmingham’s oldest, still-operating business.
And every Monday through Saturday, from morning until night, men of all ages and from various locations and walks of life gather at that long-standing shop (now owned by Stephen Trachsel) for haircuts, straight razor shaves, beard trims, shoe shines and an atmosphere that hasn’t changed much at all through seven decades and three generations of owners.
Opened by Max and Marie Ege, The Barber Pole was eventually run by their son Keith until his death in 1997. Keith’s wife, Helen, then managed the shop until their daughter, Sue Ege White, took ownership in 1999.
In 2007, Sue sold The Barber Pole to Stephen, one of its barbers.
“I originally started barbering because of my ministry,” says Stephen, who is also the senior pastor of Grace Apostolic Church at 700 E. Elmwood in Clawson. “I knew, from the time I was thirteen, that I was called into ministry and was looking for a job that was flexible and would allow me to still fulfill my church and community duties.”
“When I was in bible school,” Stephen recounts, “a guy in our dorm would cut peoples’ hair and I thought, ‘That seems like a good idea!’”
Owner Stephen Trachsel
“I went to Meijer,” Stephen chuckles, “and bought a haircutting kit, and it had an instructional video. For a year, I cut hair for friends in my parents’ home and then, in 1999, I went to Barber school.”
After getting engaged and then married to his wife, Dana, Stephen began working at The Barber Pole in 2001.
“It’s such a great place to work and visit,” Stephen says. “The other barbers are fantastic people and extremely skilled. And as a barber here, I found myself getting many ideas for the business. I was blessed to be able to become its owner in 2007.”
One of the first things Stephen did as new owner was to extend The Barber Pole’s hours.
“We’d been closed on Mondays,” he says, “but recognized the need to be open. We also extended Saturday’s closing hours from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. And we installed a flat-screen T.V.”
“But essentially,” he says, “nothing else has changed, and we are still the old-fashioned, downtown barber shop where people stop in to talk, grab a haircut, shoe shine or beard trim, maybe play a game of checkers, and feel very comfortable.”
The antique cash register clangs as the drawer opens and closes with each transaction, and some pedestrians wave to the customers and barbers they know as they pass by.
Burt Bryson, a local businessman walking by, recognizes a friend who is just about to have his face wrapped in hot, white towels in preparation for a beard trim by barber Ryan Alsup. Bryson enters the shop, high-fives his smiling friend and decides to have his own hair cut and beard trimmed.
“That’s what I like about working here,” says Alsup, who has been at The Barber Pole for eleven years. “It’s a great area with great people.”
“And,” he adds, “you should see this place when we are having a groomsmen’s shave party, when every chair has a guy with his face slathered with pre-shave lotion or wrapped in hot towels, getting their shaves for a wedding.”
Michael Sparks, from Bloomfield Hills, has been coming to The Barber Pole for over ten years, and he often brings his twelve-year-old son with him for a haircut.
“They all do a great job,” Sparks says. “The haircuts are good, and the experience is even better.”
“I have been to a salon, but the feeling was more uptight, like being on display. Here,” he explains, “it’s very comfortable and enjoyable.”
Sparks, sitting in a red leather barber chair, smiles as Stephen completes his haircut.
In March of 2017, Stephen retired from full-time barbering but, on the last Thursday of each month, he sees his regular customers from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m.
“My congregation at Grace Apostolic Church is growing,” Stephen explains. “And the Clawson Food Pantry that I separately run has taken off and is now feeding between 80-100 families per month. I feel very lucky to be able to pastor my church and be very involved in my hometown Clawson community – and to be employing seven full-time barbers here.”
Stephen, the son and grandson of ministers, brings his own eleven-year-old son Lincoln, the oldest of his three children, to the shop on Saturdays.
“Lincoln cleans up, gets pop and food for the barbers, and helps take care of things. We don’t believe in child labor laws,” Stephen laughs.
And, with Stephen’s encouragement, a 21-year-old member of his church is attending barber school.
“We’re very happy here and doing everything we can to make sure that The Barber Pole can be here for another 70 years.”
The Barber Pole
164 S. Old Woodward
Birmingham, MI 48009
248-644-9849
NOTE: Currently there is road construction on South Old Woodward with a projected ending date of July, 2018. Please feel free to call The Barber Pole for updates or directions.
As Victoria Knight, manager of mens’ fine apparel store, the St. Croix Shop, precisely folds (with a layer of crisp tissue) a newly arrived, handcrafted sky-blue men’s cotton luxury polo shirt, she warmly greets a customer who, while on a walk downtown, stops in.
Introducing himself as “Tom,” he shares that the spring wardrobe display of coordinated separates that he saw through the window attracted him.
“This is why I’d so strongly urged that it was time for us to leave the mall setting after 24 years and to become part of the Birmingham community,” states Knight. “We came to Birmingham TO our clients. They run businesses here, they dine here, and they enjoy the community, which we wanted to be part of.”
And Knight has been enthusiastically welcomed into Birmingham’s community.
Richard Astrein, long-time owner of Astrein’s Creative Jewelers and a committee chair member of Birmingham’s Principal Shopping District, was “ecstatic” about the move.
“I thought St. Croix Shop was a great fit for the district,” Astrein said. “Downtown Birmingham is an exciting place. There’s a lot happening here. In a mall, you might have more traffic or even more business but, with costs per square foot, are you going to make more money?”
He adds, “I’ve been a customer of St. Croix Shop for a long time. Their sweaters and shirts wear so well! I particularly like the ‘quarter-zip pullover.’ I recently went through my closet and counted 28 St. Croix sweaters! It will be great having them just down the street.”
Ingrid Tighe, executive director of the Principal Shopping District, had worked with Knight and St. Croix Shop in her previous position at The Somerset Collection and, Knight says, has been a great support.
“The Birmingham Shopping District is thrilled to welcome St. Croix to our downtown,” said Tighe. “This luxury menswear store is a nice complement to the wide selection of retailers we have in Birmingham. We look forward to St. Croix’s continued success in our community.”
Knight and her weekend assistant, Michael Hill, were determined to open the Birmingham store as quickly as they could, after leaving The Somerset Collection this January.
“We packed on a Friday, unpacked on Saturday and, by Wednesday, we opened,” Knight says. “We didn’t mess around!”
Their move was to a 650 square-foot, temporary “pop-up” location four doors down from the 1300 square-foot spot that will be their new home at the end of April.
“The sequence of events was amazing,” shares Knight. “I found my dream spot on Maple Road and, working things out with the property owner – who also happened to own the “pop-up” spot we were able to land in – we will soon be in the perfect, permanent location.”
Meanwhile, with creativity, a great staff, and a passion for St. Croix’s products, Knight has created a space where customers can enjoy a unique, boutique shopping experience.
“These luxury clothing items speak for themselves,” Knight says, “but it is our job to educate shoppers and to provide a ‘Wow!’ experience. Once people realize how these clothes are created – and that most are machine-washable and American-made (sweaters are Italian-made), with details like lay-flat collars and hand stitching, and that they last 40-50 years! – they often become customers for life.”
“One of my greatest pleasures,” adds Knight, “is providing service to generations of families as they continue to shop at St. Croix Shop – or even come in wearing a timelessly styled, handcrafted sweater or shirt that’s been passed down to them.”
In addition to sharing the company’s background and the acumen of its founder, master knitter Bernhard Brenner, Knight and her staff think creatively when there is a logistical problem or issue.
“I’ve been a customer of Victoria’s at St. Croix since 2010,” says Allyn McManama. “Her abilities in sales are matched with her shrewd business sense.”
“For example,” he says, “when major road construction commenced in front of the store location, she took the initiative to…alert all current customers that her store would waive all shipping fees for orders placed with that store in exchange for this inconvenience.”
“She even,” he continues, “provided an alternative route for customers to avoid construction and traffic to the store.”
Victoria smiles as she recalls such challenges.
“That’s part of what makes us so unique,” she says. “Our customers are like family and so are the members of the St. Croix Shop company. Bernie, our founder, works very hard to make the best product, and we all have the passion to share that product – and unparalleled, individual service – here, now, in Birmingham and through our seven other boutiques in the U.S.A.”
Marc Secontine smiles as he recalls the day when, as a thirteen-year-old, he rode his bike through his Birmingham neighborhood’s streets toward his father’s then-downtown Birmingham store, The Varsity Shop.
“My dad had said, ‘Come on up, and I’ll buy you lunch!’ When I arrived, there were 150 cases of Adidas shoes for me to put away. By the time I’d finished, lunch turned out to be dinner, and my visit to the shop turned out to be a life-long career!”
Vince Secontine, Jr., started the shop in 1954, after retiring, at age 33, from teaching and coaching varsity football at Birmingham High School. Vince, who was also a former football player at the University of Michigan, created The Varsity Shop because he felt “southeastern Michigan needed a quality sporting goods store that provided both competitive prices and outstanding customer service.”
“And we’ve been able to continue those ideals for the past 64 years,” says Marc, who is the store’s managing partner, “and through our 2014 move to our current location at 623 South Adams, at Birmingham’s Adams Square Mall.”
When a boiler pipe broke in their building’s original location at Pierce and Merrill, where they’d been for 61 years, the family owners had planned to repair and reopen.
“But unexpected environmental factors and the costs of meeting ADA compliance prohibited the renovations,” Marc explains, “so we sold the building and have remained here at Adams Square.”
“We miss being downtown in our older, historic building,” Marc says, “but the parking situation is so much better here. Also, downtown shopping has changed. Instead of being leisurely, people now are ‘destination shopping,’ and our place is perfect for that.”
And, when former business neighbor and the owner of 220 Merrill offered Marc their wooden main door after their own re-construction project, the new location of The Varsity Shop was able to add and project a bit more of their former character.
“We’ve got lots of wood inside the store, too,” says Marc, “and locker room lights.”
“Sometimes I think of it this way: The old location was our Tiger Stadium, with its creaky basement, etc. And this new location is our Comerica Park. But my Dad would flip if he knew we had a big-screen T.V.!”
The store is divided into four main sections: High school products (varsity jackets; school sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats and caps, etc.), swimming wear and gear, college logo items, and a section for baseball and softball equipment and accessories.
“We have a family trade secret of breaking in baseball gloves, free with purchase. People from all over the country send us their gloves to break in, which takes two days and costs fifteen dollars.”
“We also have an in-store ‘home plate,’ where we can help analyze a player’s swing and size them for the proper bat,” says Marc who, as a former player, has a passion for baseball.
“One of our most important products,” Marc shares, “is our selection of Fox River socks. They have two different layers and wick moisture away. We ship them all over the country.”
“Towards the end of my dad’s life,” Marc continues, “my siblings and I were lucky to take turns spending evenings with him. One night, while my dad and I were watching a movie, he said, out of the blue and in his tough-coach way, ‘Hey! You’d better have those Fox River socks stocked on the counter!’”
“I looked at him and said, ‘Dad! You haven’t been in the store in over two years! We know the things we need to do!’”
“But, you know what? Every day, the staff makes sure those socks are stacked.”
Most of the staff members have been at The Varsity Shop for years.
“I’ve got one of the best crews we’ve ever had,” says Marc. “My people are kind, good-hearted, energetic, honest. My manager has been here for over twenty years. It’s a great family atmosphere.”
The Varsity Shop is a member of Sports, Inc., a wholesale buying group, and is able to provide prices that are competitive with chain sporting goods stores.
“But people know we’ve been in business for a long time; that we offer great value, service and quality merchandise; that we love our work,” Marc states.
“Where else can you get paid for talking about sports, wearing tennis shoes and team sweatshirts? And dealing with good staff and customers? All this, and more, that came with my first ‘free lunch.’”
Information:
The Varsity Shop
623 S. Adams Road, in Adams Square Mall
Birmingham, MI 48009
248-646-4466 thevarsityshop.com
Birmingham resident Carol Aubrey thought she couldn’t hear her new parish priest because he, unlike her previous pastor, chose to stand nearer to the congregation and didn’t use a microphone for his sermons.
“And then, when with my ladies’ club friends,” Aubrey says, “I couldn’t hear across the table or two seats down from me, and I knew something was wrong.”
“I saw an article in the local paper about Hinderliter Hearing Services and thought, ‘It’s right here, near me!’ So, I made an appointment for a hearing evaluation. Dr. Kristin Hinderliter was kind, thorough, and very smart. She and her staff are unbelievably efficient.”
“I went home with hearing aids for a two-week trial period and, after routine adjustments, have hearing aids that are great,” Aubrey says. “Dr. Kristin even made it possible for me to adjust them by using my cell phone! I’m so glad I went there to have my hearing evaluated. I’ve told my friends, ‘Just go! Have your hearing tested!’ You need to find out if you have a hearing loss!”
Hinderliter, owner of Hinderliter Hearing Services, agrees.
“It’s important for people to have a baseline audiological evaluation,” she says. “The sooner hearing loss is detected, the easier it is to take care of it.”
She adds, “If you’re asking people to repeat or you’re hearing mumbling, or have ringing in your ears, you might not realize you have a hearing loss. Hearing loss is something that nobody sees; it can be gradual. And it affects so many areas of life!”
It is now known that hearing loss can contribute to brain atrophy and dementia, as well as increased risk of falling, depression, decreased earning potential, and the breakdown – and even loss – of relationships, including marriage.
It’s a condition that affects over 48 million Americans.
Though most hearing loss is age-related (with adults aged 60-69 reporting the greatest amount), it can affect anyone at any age.
“When I was two,” says Hinderliter, “my mom took me to the doctor because I had a cold – and I was then diagnosed with hearing loss. It certainly explained why I often didn’t respond to Mom’s calls of ‘Kristin! Kristin!’”
The diagnosis also influenced Hinderliter’s decision to pursue audiology as her vocation. She became a Doctor of Audiology and began working in a Detroit non-profit for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, followed by co-owning a private audiology practice. A year ago, she opened Hinderliter Hearing Services in Birmingham, where she has become known for her compassionate service and expertise.
“For the first time,” Hinderliter says, “hearing aids are really good! They are comfortable and aesthetically pleasing, and they can be programmed and adjusted very easily.”
And, because of her own hearing loss, Hinderliter understands the frustration of her patients.
“I have an awesome staff,” says Hinderliter. “We all work together to make it a pleasant and comfortable experience.”
The doctor always recommends that a third party come to the appointment.
“It helps the patient,” she says, “to have a loved one there to understand and share information and to be able to hear a familiar voice when trying a hearing aid.”
Hinderliter is also able, upon certain diagnosis of hearing loss, to provide – free of charge – a Cap Tel phone system, which displays written captions of land line phone calls.
“There are many devices and options available to assist with hearing loss in addition to hearing aids,” Hinderliter says.
“It is so rewarding,” says Hinderliter, “to help a patient be able to hear conversations, the phone, the television, music. Though an aid doesn’t make things perfect, it provides a chance to improve hearing and prevent more loss, to avoid the related issue of loneliness, isolation, and withdrawal – and to help keep people connected to people.”
Information:
Hinderliter Hearing Services
751 Chestnut, Suite 205
Birmingham, MI 48009
Phone: 248-430-8425
hinderliterhearing.com
Soon after Rowan Daugherty began public school, it was evident that it was not a good fit for her.
“Rowan, who is smart and verbal, was given several labels of dysfunction,” says her mom, Stephanie Daugherty, “and her confidence was shot. She was becoming a different kid.…When my second daughter, Daphne, who treasures books, started school, she was dealing with some challenges when it came to reading and executive neurological function.”
“We knew about Eton,” Daugherty continued, “but my husband and I were afraid of the cost – until we went to an Open House, where we learned we were not alone – and we made it happen. Eton Academy and The Eton Approach have done nothing short of changing our lives.”
Eton Academy, on Melton Rd. near W. 14 Mile Rd. in Birmingham, was founded in 1986 as a full-curriculum, independent, private school for students with learning differences and has over 200 students in grades 1-12.
Pete Pullen, Head of School, describes The Eton Approach as “the culmination of 30 years of teaching students who learn differently.”
“It takes the science, the research, and our successful experiences,” Pullen explains, “for a systemized approach to consistently delivering direct, explicit and multi-sensory instruction.”
“I’m a big cheerleader for Eton Academy and The Eton Approach,” says Daugherty. “Now, a couple of years later, Rowan (now ten) and Daphne (now seven) are thriving. In the past year, Daphne has improved from being able to read five words to 130 words: a 5.5th-grade reading level! And Rowan has blossomed. She is confident, meeting her goals and making new ones.”
“The teachers call, they communicate, they talk to outside therapists,” Daugherty continues. “The girls are really comfortable there, and so am I. Learning is no longer a battle. When I pick them up and ask about their day, they now say, ‘Awesome! Amazing!’ They are being taught how to learn and are given tools that will last their lifetimes.”
Daugherty describes Rowan’s first day at Eton Academy. “Rowan was upset upon arriving and did not want to stay. Mr. Pullen approached and offered to take her for a walk around the school. She took his hand and – though I don’t know what they talked about – when they returned, she was absolutely fine.”
Pullen smiles as he recalls that walk – and his own path to becoming Eton Academy’s Head of School.
“I know it sounds funny,” he says, “but I knew I wanted to be a school principal from the time I was six or seven years old.”
“I was inspired by Dr. Walker, our principal at Mary D. Mitchell School in Ann Arbor,” Pullen says. “He was the kindest, gentlest man I ever met, and he was always helping children.”
After attending Ann Arbor’s Greenhills School, Pullen returned there, while working on his degree at the University of Michigan, to tutor and coach basketball.
“Later,” Pullen says, “the opportunity was presented to teach middle school at Greenhills, so that’s where I began. And when I was there, I thought, ‘This is how schools should teach.’ It left an indelible mark on my philosophy.”
“I then took a detour and coached college basketball for two years at Eastern Michigan University and realized that my true passion is teaching. Though,” he adds, grinning, “I love basketball!”
Pullen then taught and became Assistant Head of School at Detroit’s Friends School and was also Head of School at Herlong Cathedral School before coming to Eton, where he has been for fifteen years.
And Pullen, as well as Eton’s teachers (and the specialists who continually teach those teachers), support staff, and board of trustees, sustain a place where children with learning challenges, and their families, find hope.
It’s a place where each student who walks through their doors is seen as a unique, growing child with amazing abilities, unlimited potential and discoverable ways of acquiring skills, knowledge, self-awareness; where science, compassion and dedication create a community where all can thrive, where all can succeed.
“We are a resource,” says Pullen, “for a student, a person, your child, who is struggling to learn. Everyone here is incredibly committed and passionate. A call to us may be helpful and, even though the school might not be your child’s ultimate home, we also extend tutoring, our learning center, our summer program. Our goal is to help as many students and families as we can, moving them from frustration to flourishing.”
Information: etonacademy.org
1755 Melton Rd.
Birmingham, MI 48009
248-642- 1150
Dentist’s Old-School Approach Puts Focus on People
18
JUNE 2016
BY BETH ROBINSON
LBN Community Series Royal Oak
The décor in Dr. Scott Meldrum’s Birmingham dental office is clean, comfortable, and untouched by a decorator since the practice moved from West McNichols in Detroit in 1973.
There is no television set in the waiting room. The office doesn’t have an internet connection. And eighty-year-old Norma Thurlow, the receptionist since 1957, administers the practice with a huge ledger-style appointment book and an electric typewriter.
This old-school approach is not a musty tradition, but an intentional focus on what is most important and valuable to Meldrum’s patients. This, for Meldrum, is a relationship with his patients that makes them feel safe and comfortable. And it’s about providing highly skilled, state-of-the-art care, without pain, and without unnecessary procedures.
“The number one thing that makes any dental office successful is the dentist,” Meldrum says. “And the number two thing is the employees. It’s about people liking people.”
This starts at the front desk, where Thurlow greets each one of the practice’s 1,500 regular patients personally, including children who represent the fifth generation of their families to be treated there.
“I’m old school,” she says. “I hang up everyone’s coat and they love that.”
Thurlow was a nursing student in 1957 when she became ill and was hospitalized for a month. The break in her studies made returning unfeasible, so she decided to look for work in a dental office. An agency contacted her about the job in Dr. Joseph Champagne’s office, but then told her it was filled. A day later, they called her and said that the person they sent over only lasted one day.
“I could see why,” laughs Thurlow, recalling the elder Dr. Champagne’s temper. But Thurlow was more than a match for it, managing the office, becoming close with Dr. Champagne’s son, Dr. Jack Champagne and his wife, and staying the practice passed to Dr. Jack, and then to his son-in-law, Dr. Meldrum.
Meldrum credits Thurlow with helping to create the continuity that allowed for a successful transition.
“The number one thing that makes any dental office successful is the dentist,” Meldrum says. “And the number two thing is the employees. It’s about people liking people.”
“It’s nice, when you walk through the front door, to know the person behind the front desk,” says Meldrum. “They get their dental work done and they stand and talk to Norma for another 45 minutes.”
In a recent article for the Oakland County Dental Society’s Dental Review, Meldrum outlined the “Ten P’s for a Successful Practice.” In addition to personality, personnel, and passion, Meldrum outlines the importance of product, price, and painlessness.
“The best thing,” he says, “is to do everything you can to make sure they don’t feel anything, so they gain confidence that they won’t get hurt next time they come.”
Many of his new patients come in with concerns about unnecessary procedures.
“Overzealous dentistry,” says Meldrum, can be the result of dentists’ large student loans, corporate dental groups focused on profit, and expensive equipment which must be used to be justified.
Meldrum’s cozy sunlit office is not only familiar and comfortable, but it also lets patients know that they’re not getting extra procedures to pay for ritzy furnishings. Ditto the internet connection, which, Meldrum says, “would not have made the business more successful.”
“It’s the science, the art, and the business of dentistry, and you have to be good at all three,” says Meldrum.
And if Thurlow has her way, it will stay that way. Asked if she ever thinks about retiring, the feisty octogenarian says: “I don’t know why people stay at home. I’m a widow and I live all alone, so I just have to be here to aggravate Dr. Meldrum. That’s my plan in life.”
Dr. Meldrum’s general dentistry practice is located at:
The décor in Dr. Scott Meldrum’s Birmingham dental office is clean, comfortable, and untouched by a decorator since the practice moved from West McNichols...
Birmingham resident Carol Aubrey thought she couldn’t hear her new parish priest because he, unlike her previous pastor, chose to stand nearer to the...
Michael Sparks, from Bloomfield Hills, has been coming to The Barber Pole for over ten years, and he often brings his twelve-year-old son with him for a haircut.
Knight and her weekend assistant, Michael Hill, were determined to open the Birmingham store as quickly as they could, after leaving The Somerset Collection this January.
The diagnosis also influenced Hinderliter’s decision to pursue audiology as her vocation. She became a Doctor of Audiology and began working in a Detroit non-profit for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, followed by co-owning a private audiology practice. A year ago, she opened Hinderliter Hearing Services in Birmingham, where she has become known for her compassionate service and expertise.
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