End of a dynasty as last of Bob's family franchises closes doors
The Stockbridge institution decided to make the decision to hang up their aprons and scissors after it became apparent that the time was right for business owner Robin Malinowski, 71 and his staff Lynda Falconer, 61 and Davy Turner, 67, to enjoy retirement.
The ‘Bob’s’ family chain had stores across Edinburgh in their heyday, with the first of the franchise being set up in West Port in 1951 by Robin’s late father, Bob Malinowski.
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Hide AdUntil recently Robin’s brother, Ben, also ran a shop at Lauriston Place, with other stores at Tollcross, Easter Road and Colinton completing the family's set.
But Bob’s in Stockbridge is the last of the shops standing.
Robin began work with his father in the original shop at West Port when he was a young boy.
In fact, both Davy and Robin trained under the watchful eye of the franchise founder. And they weren’t the only ones. The gents hairdressers was so renowned for giving you a fresh trim that even the great Charlie Miller plied his trade there before going on to become an industry giant.
Although the toilet facilities at West Port notoriously left a lasting impact on those who used it, with one gentleman saying it mirrored conditions of those inside the Black Hole of Calcutta.
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Hide AdRobin who owns the store has said that they have all been inundated with well wishes and bottles of champagne from their loyal customers that are rumoured to number over a thousand strong.
He said: “At 12:30 on Saturday, we will mark the end of 48 years of our shop serving our friends within the community. I say friends because that is what our clients are to us.“You always get a lot of banter and a lot of laughing when you come in. You do not get a haircut without folk talking about the world around us. I think that is why our customers have been so loyal throughout the years.
“I mean Davy supports Rangers and I support Celtic - and we always have banter. Davy will even tell you himself he started watching beach volleyball when rangers went rock bottom.
“It is all about getting a good proper, normal haircut, at the right price. Some barbers can go mad with the razor and the price they charge you for it. What we did was give the customer what he wants and exactly what he is asking for.
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Hide Ad“With us they just make their appointment, pay a tenner and are out again after 20 minutes.
“But as our clientele got older and older, we started closing the shop at 3:30. We never took on any new customers as we had such a loyal clientele. But recently a lot of them are going into homes, passing away or being unable to get themselves to the shop. So the time felt right.”
Robin acknowledged how the barbers had evolved over the years and mentioned that in the 70’s and 80’s he would regularly do cut and blow dry group bookings for entire groomsmen entourages.
Nowadays he says it is all about neat styles but back then the men could be more wild with their style.
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Hide AdWhen asked about keeping the business in the family he says that no one really had an interest in entering the industry.
He said: “No one wanted to come into the barbershop and there are a lot of us. I’ve got six grandkids but they just didn't want to. It is an old person's shop here because of the clientele getting older and older, so it might not have been the best thing anyway.”
On retirement, he added: “We are all healthy and are all fine and all like our holidays but I suppose at the moment we can't go anywhere due to the virus. We were going to go and have a few bottles of champagne in the shop on Saturday but will have to do it with our wives later on as we were also planning on going to the Raeburn for a meal afterwards.”
Davy, who has worked in the shop for the entire 48 years that it was open, is said to be looking forward to doing some gardening with his new found spare time.Lynda on the other hand is looking forward to spending more time sampling the wonderful eateries that Edinburgh has to offer as well as visiting the cinema regularly with her husband.
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Hide AdRobin paid tribute to Davy’s ability to make customers laugh and Lynda’s capacity to make clients feel at home whenever they entered the store.
Robert Pritchard, 48, has visited Bob’s at the junction of Comely Bank Road at least once a month since his mother took him there when he was just three years old.He said: “I have attended Bob’s faithfully once a month, every year, since my mother took me at the age of three. Even when I moved away from that area to the west of Edinburgh I continued to go to Bob’s even though there are plenty of barbers in my own area.
“The staff at Bob's: Robin, Dave and Lynda are all in their 60's and 70's, and have done a great job looking after their customers for all these years and I feel it appropriate that their retirement is in the paper.”
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