This building is a replica of Pelser's Barber Shop that operated until the 1990s. Built in 1920, the original shop was not able to be restored (although some say the windows and door were saved and are the original ones). Nevertheless, the artifacts displayed are the same ones used for decades by the Pelsers at their Main Street location in Winkler. Also on display is an extensive collection of calendars dating back to 1924.
Mr. Pelser was born in West Germany in 1887. He immigrated to Canada in 1905 and settled in Winnipeg where he trained as a barber. In 1907, Mr. Pelser moved to Winkler before moving on to Saskatchewan in 1909. After receiving the title to a homestead there, he moved back to Winkler in 1920 and opened his shop that same year.
During the Depression, Julius Pelser gave shaves for 15 cents and haircuts for 25 cents, raised a family of six on this modest income. In 1952, Julius’s son, Leonard, joined him in working at the barbershop. Leonard remained in the shop until the mid-1990s, when it was moved to make way for the Crocus Place parking lot.
The sign of the barber’s profession is still widely kept. It is a pole with red and white stripes in a spiral around it. These stripes represent the bandage with which the barber wrapped his patient after bloodletting. In very early days, barbers were also surgeons.
Many can remember getting their hair cut in the shop over the years, and can recall how wood planks were placed on the arms of the chairs in order to raise them up high enough prior to booster seats being available.
