Brooklyn Park Barber Steps Away From His Scissors After 50 Years
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – On March 28 a local man's decades-long career is coming to an end. Brooklyn Park barber Denny Brummer will put down his clippers for good. He's been cutting hair since he was 18-years old.
Things are cut and dry at Brummer's shop. The 68-year-old offers one style, he doesn't even ask, he just clips.
A system, according to Brummer, that works and has held up to the test of time.
A farm kid, he got free training to cut hair at 18.
But while he's been at it for years, he said it's not the craft he loves, it's the crowd.
"I try to make my barbershop a lot like Cheers: where everybody knows your name," Brummer said.
And after 50 years, quite a few know his. Client after client has stopped in to offer a card, a bottle of champagne or just well wishes.
When you do the math, Denny has cut over 250,000 heads, which means he has some pretty loyal clients.
One 40-year loyal client calculated he spent $10,770 over the years.
Brummer's seen hair fade to gray and boys grow to men. In fact, some of the boys whose head he cut are now fathers and grandfathers.
Brummer said it's been a good ride, and after talking with his wife he decided it was time to tend to another crowd.
"I got horses out there and I got animals, I'm a lucky guy," Brummer said.
His partner Edna will keep the shop going and his replacement has been hired.
Denny's Barber Shop on Boone Avenue, a business by a man who cut short and listened long.
"I could write a book," Brummer said of his time cutting hair.
Brummer's last client is a man who got his first haircut from Brummer when he was three. The now - father is flying in from Tennessee so he can make that last cut.
