Walking into Bob’s Barber Shop, chatter buzzed just as loudly as the hair clippers and handheld back massage machines. Since 1964, the family business has served Marquette University students and the Milwaukee community.
In 1993, Bob Krebsbach founded his barber shop, when what’s now the Straz Tower dormitory was a YMCA.
After Krebsbach’s passing on January 22, 2015, his daughter, Christal SanFelippo, took ownership of the family business.
“It will always be Bob’s,” SanFelippo said, while trimming a customer’s hair out of her dad’s old chair that she now operates from. “This is the only place he ever cut hair.”
SanFelippo hopes to leave the same impact on the shop that her dad did.
In her 30 years of working at Bob’s Barber Shop, SanFelippo has made lasting connections with customers.
“Our customers are family,” she said.
One customer getting his hair cut said he has been faithful to the barber shop since he started attending Marquette in 2002.
“I love the atmosphere, and [Christal] is the only person I let touch my hair,” he said.
Bob’s offers typical barber services, including haircuts and beard trims. SanFelippo said a couple of women come in for a simple trim. At the end of every haircut, customers get shoulder massages with a handheld barber massager — a fan-favorite.
Employees also pride themselves on the character of the shop.
“It’s how traditional barber shops used to be,” Jake Cohen, a barber who’s worked at the shop for 10 years, said. “People come to gather.”
Upon first glance, it’s just like any other barber shop. Each barber has their own station and tools, large mirrors stretch along an entire wall, checkered-like tiles fill the floor and a barber’s pole is fixed by the entrance.
But it’s beyond the cosmetic fixtures of the shop where the story lies.
A photo of an eagle and a Marquette pennant hang high. Newspaper archives and notes from customers praising the service decorate the walls and decades-old photographs of family and customers are framed around the shop.
Some of the photos include Krebsbach, SanFelippo, Cohen and other barbers with the people who have sat in their chairs over the last 61 years.
Whether it’s the former Marquette President Fr. Robert A. Wild, former Marquette men’s basketball player Tyler Kolek, Marquette students, a Milwaukeean or a great-grandson of a customer, everyone will be treated the same, SanFelippo said.
Cohen said the shop has “built-in rotating customers” because students come in for the four years that they are on campus and move back home afterward.
On the other hand, some customers have grown up in Bob’s Barber Shop. SanFelippo has several customers that she met while they were students, who now bring their sons to her chair.
At the end of each day, Cohen said he leaves knowing his customers better than the time before. He enjoys building relationships with them and feels it’s the most distinctive part of the job.
“20-minute appointment, 20-minute conversation,” he said.
The shop relies on word-of-mouth instead of advertisements, partly because of its old-school nature, and also because, before COVID-19, SanFelippo said, it had more business than it could handle.
“You can’t be walking down the street and find us. You have to know we’re here,” Cohen said.
The shop faced a decline in customers during the pandemic because, SanFelippo said, there were simply less people downtown. Now, the shop is booked back-to-back every day.
SanFelippo, her coworkers and their customers cherish the history and charm of Bob’s Barber Shop and look to continue its legacy for years to come.
“As long as Marquette still has this space in this building, we’re not going anywhere,” SanFelippo said.
This story was written by Elena Metinidis. She can be reached at [email protected].
