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FARGO — Hey, north Fargo: There’s a new barber in the neighborhood.
Actually, she’s an experienced barber who hails from a long line of well-known Fargo barbers. But she’s new to the Trollwood Barbers at 3105 N. Broadway.
Maureen Robinson bought the established business this fall from previous owner Lori Ludlum, who retired. Robinson has been cutting hair at the Trollwood shop since mid-October.
"I'm getting a little more booked each week," Robinson says. "I'm pleased."
For now, the third-generation barber has been splitting time between the Trollwood location and the popular Everett’s Barbershop, where Robinson has worked since her sister, Chelsey Ehlen, opened it in downtown Fargo 10 years ago.
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(At this point, you might want to grab a pencil to keep track of Robinson’s scissors-strewn family tree.)
Everett’s Barbershop is actually named after Everett Cannon, Ehlen’s and Robinson’s grandfather and a long-ago owner of Moler Barber College of Hairstyling on Fargo’s Eighth Street South.
Robinson’s and Ehlen’s mom, Mary Cannon, also ran the barber college for 30-plus years before retiring in 2019. In fact, the family lived above the college for several years. “We spent a lot of time (in the barbershop) sweeping,” Robinson says, smiling.
In 2010, Robinson graduated from Moler’s after successfully completing the 1,550-hour program. She’s been cutting hair ever since.
So when it comes to street cred, Robinson has got it.
Robinson says she made the move because, quite frankly, it’s convenient. The barbershop is located just eight blocks from her house and her mom lives even closer, which means she can jump in when Maureen and husband, Stefan, need help with their sons, Edmund, 5, and Vincent, 3. “She’s like my grandma taxi,” Robinson says, smiling.
Besides, Robinson loves north Fargo. “It’s like a little town within a town,” she says. “Having grown up here, I just desperately wanted to land back up here and raise my kids up here.”
So when former owner Ludlum first mentioned to Robinson that she was looking for a buyer, Robinson says she didn’t have to think twice about it.
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North Fargo, after all, only has one other barbershop, so there’s a definite need for her services. "We don't want any of them (barber shops) to close," she says.
Many of her customers have followed her from Everett’s to Trollwood, but she is also slowly building a clientele from north Fargo residents. She will even cut women's hair, although she sticks to simpler, short styles.
“Word is spreading,” she says, laughing. “One (caller) said they were all talking about me at coffee.”
Robinson has decorated the barbershop with midcentury modern touches, like a streamlined wooden curio cabinet filled with vintage barbershop knickknacks, including keepsakes from her Grandpa Everett. She also has displayed two old-school barber poles and an illuminated Old Style Beer sign. The items listed on the left side of the sign — haircuts and services ranging from $30 to $40 — are available. The items listed on the right — Michelob six-packs for a paltry $2.50 — are not.
Robinson grins as she says the beer prices came with the sign so she decided to keep them there for a bit of fun nostalgia.
Hair stylist Karen DeMairais of Karen’s Hair Studio , will continue renting space at the site as she did under Ludlum.
As the barbershop is located on the ground floor of Trollwood senior living village, Robinson says people sometimes assume it’s for Trollwood residents only.
But she’s quick to stress that the shop is open to anyone who needs a beard trim, haircut or straight-razor fade. And once clients get there, she says “they’re over the moon about the parking lot.”
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Robinson says she is currently working two days a week at Trollwood: Thursdays from 8:40 to 5 p.m. and Fridays from 8:40 to 1 p.m.
But over time, she says she will work four days a week at Trollwood.
“It's hard to quit cold turkey," she says, referring to her transition from Everett's. "I don’t have a timeline or anything like that. It’s when it feels right.”
Appointments can be made by calling (701) 235-0194 or booking online at https://www.trollwoodbarbers.com .
