There’s a Harten in business on Queen Street once again (8 photos)

You could call it a homecoming of sorts.

On March 1, local barber Laura Harten opened Harten’s Barbershop.

The shop’s location, at 736 Queen St. E., was once home to Harten Bakery, established by John and Helena Harten, grandparents of Laura’s husband Roy.

John and Helena had nine employees and turned out 100 dozen glazed doughnuts a day, Helena known for her wedding cakes.

John and Helena, who owned the building which Laura now leases, ran the bakery from 1925 to 1952, John forced to leave the business due to flour-induced emphysema.

One of many historic family photographs on the walls of Laura’s shop shows a white cloud of flour hovering near the bakery’s ceiling.

“They didn’t have a lot of health and safety measures back then,” Laura said.

Roy Harten’s father Gordon and uncle Jack both worked in the bakery while going to school. Because they had other career interests, they didn't take over running the bakery and the Harten Bakery building was eventually sold in 1986.

Fast forward to 2019.

Laura, desiring to open her own barbershop, drove by the building in February.

“I saw this huge ‘commercial space for lease’ sign in the window. I peeked in the window and thought ‘that’s perfect, that’s exactly the size I want,’ and here I am,” she smiled.

“We saw it on a Wednesday, we came to see it on a Sunday, got the keys Tuesday, did the floor Tuesday and Wednesday night and opened Friday, March 1st. It was like I was supposed to be here,” Laura said.

Interestingly, this also marks the second time the Queen Street space has been home to a barbershop, Laura added.

Laura has been a barber for 35 years, specializing in men’s haircuts, beard and moustache trimming.

“I like all that good old barbering stuff, I find that more interesting,” said Laura, though she does hairstyling for women as well.

Her first job as a barber, she recalled, was at the Sentry Barber Shop, part of a department store which was located where Cambrian Mall now stands.

Most recently a familiar staff member at Oscar & Dario Unisex Hairstyling and Barbering in Station Mall, Laura said “the location here is very good. I have that sign out there, people walk back and forth, and every day I get one or two new people (as well as old faithful customers).”

Laura, in a civilian capacity, gave haircuts to Canadian Armed Forces soldiers serving in Afghanistan in 2005.

“Listening to soldiers lessened their stress and anxiety. I had pictures on my mirror of fishing and camp, so they’d come in and talk about stuff and it took their minds off what they were doing there.”

It turned out one of her military customers was from the Sault.

“A young soldier, a corporal, came in for a haircut and I had pictures on my mirror of my daughters and camp...he saw a picture of one of my daughters, and he said ‘oh, how are you related to her?’ I said ‘I’m her mother,’ and he said ‘I went to St. Basil School with her!’”

Laura’s husband Roy is well known locally as a 155 Air Cadet Squadron captain and a Canadian Armed Forces reservist.

Roy too went to Afghanistan, in 2009, as a civilian lineman (an employee of Bell Canada), ensuring the Canadian military’s telecommunications network at Kandahar Air Field ran smoothly.

“You get this warm feeling, this feeling of this is where you belong,” said Roy of walking through his grandparents old building.

“I like being a barber because I like interacting with people. This is a very social job,” Laura said.