By Garry Howe
Pakenham’s oldest business, Treloar’s Hairdressing, is back up and running.
The business dates back to 1912 and has weathered two world wars, the Great Depression and now two global pandemics, the first being the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918-19.
Third generation barber Graham Treloar had scaled down to working on day a week out of Tydees salon in the Centre Arcade, but Covid-19 forced him away from the salon for seven weeks.
“I had to be pretty careful,” he told the Gazette. “I am over 70 and 99 per cent of my customers are in the same age bracket.”
With the easing of restrictions, he is now back on deck on Tuesdays to service his loyal customers.
“At one stage I thought, that’s it, I’ll pull the pin, but I didn’t want to just fade into the background because of a bloody wog.
“That’s not a good way to go out after 60-odd years in the business.”
The barber shop was established by Vic Treloar in 1912, moved two doors down a couple of years later and stayed there for the next 76 years.
His son Fred started cutting hair as a 17-year-old in 1934 and took over the business after his father’s death in 1954.
Graham started helping his father in 1961 and took the business over in 1977.
