New barbershop going in at The Walper
Posted Jun 14, 2019 05:01:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The historic Walper Hotel in downtown Kitchener will be getting a new barbershop this summer.
Spearhead Barber & Supply, which first opened a location in Uptown Waterloo three years ago, will be moving into the space.
They say Abel's on Queen will pay homage to the hotel's founder Abel Walper.
The owner of Spearhead calls it an “amazing” opportunity.
“The space has been occupied by a barbershop for about 126 years now. We just hope to continue on in the owner Abel Walper's legacy … kind of do a bit of a different take on it, adding more of a story to our brand, telling a story of the hotel and kind of just paying tribute to what Abel Walker would have wanted if he were here today.” said Mitch Bright.
The current Walper Hotel building has been around since 1893, Abel Walper purchased the property the year before.
The original two-storey structure, built in 1820, was destroyed by fire in 1892.
“We've done a lot of research on Abel Walper and the history behind the hotel … we're really excited to releasing some of the brand narrative and some of the story to the public as times go on and as we get close to being open.” Bright told KitchenerToday.com.
He also feels barbershops are making a comeback. “Barbershops kind of took a big hit when The Beatles were popular and a lot of long hair started to become … more on trend. Now that the barbershop and men, or anyone really are starting to take a little more pride in doing their hair and taking care of themselves in that sense, has really kind of brought a huge boom back to the barbering industry, especially within the last five to ten years,”
Bright says they hope to open Abel's on Queen in early July.
