An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Jamal Cherkouai was retiring. Although he has sold his barber shop, he will continue to work at the shop three or four days a week for the new owner.
As the pen glided effortlessly across the legal document, Jamal Cherkouai finalized the sale of his downtown St. Albert barbershop and the end of an era.
“I’ve been sad for the last few days, when I finalized it with the lawyer it was sad,” said Cherkouai, 59. Jamal Eden Studio opened around 18 years ago, quickly becoming a staple in the downtown core of St. Albert.
On Friday Jamal Eden Studio was officially under new ownership. Cherkouai said over the years he’s built many relationships in the community. Although he has sold the shop, he intends to continue to work as a barber for the new owner.
Cherkouai was one of the first barbers to open up a shop in St. Albert. In the early ’90s he took over a salon in the old Grandin Mall, where the Grandin Parc Village now stands.
In 2000 he moved the business to Perron Street where it still stands today. The front of the salon features a large mirror reflecting two stations, donned with traditional 1967 barber seats. The arm rests feature archaic flip-up steel ashtrays. At the time each chair sold for around $6,700.
The interior of the barbershop has remained the same, the only thing that’s different is the missing blue, white and red striped pole.
“Someone hit it with a rock or something. It’s too bad because people used to see it all the way from St. Anne Street.”
In one hand he holds a comb, in the other he holds a pair of scissors. In quick fluid motions he crafts each piece of hair exactly where he wants it to sit. For Cherkouai, working with men’s hair has never been about making money.
“It’s an art,” he said. “I can look at the person and know what’s going to suit him. I know how I’m going to cut his hair and how he’s going to look, and everyone has different hair.”
Cherkouai said he’s going to miss the community the most. Working as a barber for 25 years in Edmonton and St. Albert, his customers have become like family.
Former city councillor James Burrows was one of those customers. He started getting haircuts from Cherkouai in 1995, a few years after the barber opened in St. Albert.
“It’s the old adage, the best person to talk to sometimes is your priest, your banker and your barber,” he laughs. “It’s bittersweet, I thank him for all his years of service to me as a client and to other men in the city.”
The art of hair
Cherkouai said finding a good barber is a hard thing to do. Barber schools stopped running around 15 years ago. Now schools teach hair styling, focusing largely on women’s hair.He said early in his career he discovered that his main passion was working with men’s hair. You won’t find electric clippers at his station, instead you’ll see him cutting hair by hand.
“You have to know how to do tapers, military haircuts, cut it by freehand,” he said.
The barber is also well known for being involved with a documentary: Things Arab Men Say. The documentary aired last year, featuring Cherkouai and Arab customers in the parlour.
The film was meant to reduce stereotypes around the Arabic community.
Cherkouai will still be working at the shop under the new ownership. He plans to take an extended vacation to Lebanon visiting family and lounging on beaches, before returning to cutting hair for the new owner.
The new owner of the shop has not yet been disclosed.
