Dave's is more than a barbershop;
it's a Grosse Pointe clearing house

Dave Brown wakes up every day at 5 a.m. at his home in New Baltimore. He checks the weather first, to see if it’s a good day for golf, then gives his a wife a kiss and drives about 30 minutes to his barber shop in Grosse Pointe City. 

“Everyday’s a new day,” said Brown, owner of Dave’s Haircutting & Styling shop.

“I go golfing every Friday, but since I’m the owner I can make Friday any day of the week,” he said.
And if he did fail to open the shop on a random Tuesday or Wednesday, his customers would forgive him. Dave’s is much more than a place to get a little taken off the top.

Brown, 66, has been cutting and trimming hair at 395 Fisher Road for almost 40 years and doesn’t plan on retiring anytime soon.

He grew up in Hillsdale, Mich. and graduated from Green’s Barber College in 1962. After his schooling, he worked as a barber for three years until he was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War.

After his discharge, Brown became a full-time barber.

Behind the chair, Brown likes to think of himself as a comedian. Whenever someone tells him something, he tells them he can use that in the book he’s writing.

“I hear a lot of personal information but that’s part of the job. People trust me,” he said. But some of it is really personal, and like a good confidante, he doesn’t repeat it.

“A good share of clientele is like family,” he said. “People come from all over, St. Clair Shores, Ann Arbor, Lansing and Milford, because I’ve been cutting their hair since they were kids.”

But he admitted that longstanding customers are not always good for business.

“A third of my business goes down to Florida every year,” Brown said while sweeping some grey hair off his chair. “They leave after Christmas and come back in May.”

Despite the hundreds of regular customers he sees every year, his favorite is a dog, who comes into the shop for a daily snack of Kraft cheese.

“He doesn’t like dog food, he just likes cheese and of course I have to give it to him.”

Some of Brown’s more famous customers include former Tigers pitcher Dan Petry and Grosse Pointe South’s own Chris Getz, who now plays second base for the Kansas City Royals.

“Sometimes I don’t even look at my schedule, so I’ll get a surprise when someone comes in,” Dave said.

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