Grain Exchange Barbershop closing its doors after over 120 years

MINNEAPOLIS -- After more than 120 years in downtown Minneapolis, the Grain Exchange Barbershop is closing.

"This is the last place you can get a $25 haircut," Barber Bob Haddow said.

The barber shop offers a quality haircut at a fair price and good advice whether you want it or not from Barber Bob. That's what his customers have come to expect for more than 10 years.

Now they are calling in to make appointments to see Haddow before his run inside the Minneapolis Grain Exchange comes to an end.

"The Exchange has been sold, that's a big part of Minneapolis history turning over right there," Haddow said.

Haddow says new owners are re-designing the building and his barbershop is not part of the new plan. He's witnessed the changes the historic building has gone through.

"...Used to have 300 or 400 guys up there, trading on the floor every day. Well, you don't have to do that anymore. Now they can pop open their laptop, they can be floating around the Mediterranean on a yacht and do their training," Haddow said.

Now, it's time for a change of his own, but he'll hold close the relationships he's developed over the years.

"I got one client, a lawyer who keeps a bottle of whiskey in here because his wife won't let him have it at home," Haddow said. "He'll come in the evening, last haircut, we'll have a drink and talk about things."

Haddow used to be an artist and a teacher and has a Ph.D. in American History.

"It's kind of fun thinking you know you can be a barber and also the neighborhood historian," Haddow said.

He may roll all his skills into one ball and toss it into the workforce, but first, he will take a moment to think about the impact he's had on others as well as the impact they've had on him.

"I've had calls from other barber shops in the area that want me to come over there, but I'm going to take a couple of months and think about things," Haddow said.