On Spadina Road in the Forest Hill Village there is a small barber shop that has been there forever. Certainly longer than my 50 years. The barbers are Nick, the patriarch, who has been there as long as I can remember; Mario and Terry, Nick's sons-in-law; and Nicola.
The Forest Hill barbers have a thriving business that's a throw back to the good old days of barber poles, straight razor shaves and no appointments. Because of their location in the Forest Hill Village, their clientele are the whos who of Canadian business, law and medicine. On any given day you can see captains of industry waiting in line for the next available barber. There's a family feeling as Nick and the boys seem to know a little bit about every customer and their families. In addition, many a deal has been done while waiting for your turn. I myself can think of at least 2 opportunities that came to me while waiting to get my buzz cut.
What most impresses me about the Forest Hill barbers is that 13 years ago they started a charity golf tournament to raise money for Sick Kids Hospital. I just attended the 13th version a couple of weeks ago which raised over $100,000. Over the years, they have raised well over $600,000.
Nick, Mario, Terry and Nicola enlist the support of their Forest Hill clientele, the local Forest Hill Village business community and their Woodbridge friends and family. It is an amazing event. It not only has the usual trappings of the typical charity golf tournament, but they also have homemade favourites set up at various holes such as Italian wine and cheese and expresso and Italian pastries.
The barbers are on their feet cutting hair from 9 to 6 five days a week. They then put this incredible event together in their spare time. The Forest Hill Village barbers are amazing entrepreneurs in every sense of the word.
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