Going to the barbershop in the early days was always more than just getting a haircut. It was also a social experience. During the long waits you were brought up to date on the latest news, sports events, and politics, and even discussions about church theology.
The first barbershop in Borculo was located in the rear of the harness shop building. The harness shop was built by Jacob Lokers in 1909 and was located just north of Koops store. The building next to it was the old blacksmith shop owned by Paul DeGroot.
The harness shop building was then converted into a DX gas station and an auto repair shop. In 1946 the Austhof family purchased the building and converted it into a lunchroom. They operated it for a few years and then leased it out to other lunch room tenants. The last of these tenants to operate the lunchroom were Gladys (Bussis) Haveman and her sister Harriet. The lunchroom was a very popular spot for the young people of Borculo.
After the lunchroom closed, an appliance store was operated there by Andy Kooienga. After the appliance store closed the front part of the building was vacant. Gerrit Talsma continued using the back room as a barbershop. When he retired, Joe VanderKooi rented this room for one year in 1962 before he built a new barbershop in Borculo. Soon after, the building was torn down for additional parking for the Borculo Restaurant.
John Lokers was always the most talkative of the three brothers and was often giving advice to his customers, especially to young men who mentioned to him that they were getting married.
In 1962, I got married and left Borculo to live in the Jenison area, and so I stopped getting my haircuts at Lokers Barbershop in Zeeland. Eleven years later I was seriously injured in an auto accident and placed in traction for 89 days in Zeeland Hospital, recovering from my injuries.
During the long stay there I realized that I needed a haircut. A nurse in the hospital told me there was a retired barber who came to the hospital to give haircuts to patients. When the barber came into my room, I immediately recognized him as my old barber – John Lokers. He was amazed at the condition he found me in and the traction setup he would have to move around for this haircut. He said the traction setup and visible scale weights reminded him of a verse in the Bible, Daniel 5:8 which read “you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting”. I agreed! He managed to do my haircut in spite of the traction surrounding the bed and talked again about his memories of his boyhood days growing up in Borculo
The Lokers family was the second family to settle in Borculo in 1869. They lived on the Borculo Hill next to the Quick Stop store next to the Borculo cemetery. When Jacob Lokers started the harness shop, his family grew up in the house located just west of the Harness shop, later owned by Junior Huyser.
Bob Vollink was also a Borculo boy who later became a barber, and he opened a barbershop in Zeeland. He also cut the hair of many folks from the Borculo area.
Joe VanderKooi is the last of the Borculo barbers still living. In 1958, 2 years after serving in the military, Joe decided he wanted to become a barber. He attended the Flint Institute of Barbering and received his barber’s license in January, 1959. He worked his first year as a barber in Spring Lake, Michigan. He then worked for 3 years in a barbershop in Hudsonville. In 1962 he rented the back room of the old harness shop in Borculo for 1 year, when Gerrit Talsma retired. I remember getting a haircut in this old back room in August, 1962 before I got married.
In 1963 Joe and Vivian had a new barbershop and hair salon designed and built by the firm where Gerald Haveman was working. Joe cut hair in half of the shop and another barber in the other half. In 1968 Joe’s wife Vivian took over the second half to operate a beauty salon. Joe continued to use this building for the next 53 years until he retired in 2015. He then leased out the building to a beauty salon and later sold the building