Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Hair No More: Barber Bill Denues closed his old-fashioned barber shop, the Men's Room, in Campbell's Pruneyard shopping center, after more than 30 years of serving local customers who needed haircuts. Denues began using his shears in 1955.
Campbell barber shop closes its doors after 30 years in business
By Erin Mayes
After 30 years of owning and operating the Men's Room, Bill and Jeanne Denues have closed up their shop in the Pruneyard.
The old-fashioned barber shop, in Campbell's Pruneyard Shopping Center, officially stopped serving customers July 29 and has since been trying to sell off its products.
The couple, who have been married for 48 years, decided to close shop a year and a half after Bill suffered a stroke and finally admitted it takes two fully functional hands to cut hair. Although he is left-handed and that hand was thankfully unharmed by the stroke, the fingers of his right hand are resistant to bending.
Denues has been a barber for 46 years and says that before his stroke, the thought of retiring never entered his mind. Now, for the last year and a half, he's had a lot of thinking to do.
Jeanne calls him a survivor and says he's managed to prove the doctor's prognosis wrong by pulling through the stroke so well. She lists off several incidents that could have done Bill in--a bicycle accident that injured his head and eye, an airplane crash, an earthquake, two heart attacks and open-heart surgery.
Denues worked for the Air Force as a radio operator for four years, starting in 1950 and went to barber college in San Francisco as soon as he'd finished serving his time.
In 1955, he started working at the Westwood Barber Shop and worked there for 16 years. In 1971, he built his own shop, the Men's Room, at the Pruneyard, the same year the shopping center opened. His was the ninth shop to open at the center, and he says a customer gave him the idea for the name of the store.
Although the Men's Room served mostly men, some women had their hair done there as well, and most of the stylists were women. One stylist, Kaye Quast, worked at the Men's Room for 20 years and took Denues' nighttime apprenticeship class at San Jose City College, where he taught for about 15 years.
Another stylist, John Angelo, worked for Denues for 29 years on and off. Manicurist Layna Goforth worked at the Men's Room for 16 years, and cosmetologist Ha Le worked there for nine. Most of the Men's Room former employees have found jobs elsewhere.
The Denues had two sons and one daughter together and the family expanded to include four grandchildren. One of their sons lives right next door to them in the Los Gatos Hills, and their two other children live in Santa Cruz and Colfax, both California cities.
Jeanne worked for nine years as the superintendent's secretary at the Loma Prieta School District. She has also served as the Men's Room's receptionist and payroll coordinator, and she is teaching elementary school at Mountain Bible Christian School.
The Denues said that, ideally, someone would buy their shop from them, but there have been no takers as of yet.
"Business is really down and selling is extremely hard," Jeanne Denues said.
Their lease is good until December, and the Denues would be happy if someone, even someone who plans to do something different with the shop, would show interest in purchasing the space.
Campbell, California
