Business : Clipper Corner owner celebrates 25th year

People from all over Vinton and even as far away as Texas and California helped Mary (McNeal) Barkdoll celebrate her 25^th year at Clipper Corner.

Barkdoll was almost moved to tears when a client called from Texas to congratulate her on Thursday, March 18.

That was the date in 1985 when Barkdoll and former partner Brenda Kovatch opened Clipper Corner.

“Sometimes you think that maybe after 25 years people started taking you for granted,” she said. “It’s been great. I was overwhelmed with their comments.”

Barkdoll’s mother, Lola, spent much of the day at the salon, helping celebrate the milestone. She was there and saw how her daughter was nearly moved to tears when the client called from Texas to congratulate her.

Barkdoll’s father, the late Harvey McNeal, was one of the more reluctant customers.

Barkdoll has always cut hair for men as well as women. But her dad was among those who had a fear that a woman could not property cut a man’s hair. She still vividly remembers how her father held up a mirror with his own hands to inspect his daughter’s work, and how she was repeatedly reminding him that she knew how to cut his hair.

Flowers and cards arrived to help Barkdoll and her colleagues, Maggie Stewart and Rachelle Kies, celebrate the occasion. Clipper Corner held an open house, offering refreshments and sharing photos and news clippings from the past 25 years.

Barkdoll had been working for hair salons in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City for two years before opening the Clipper Corner on 5^th Street, in the building that is now part of the Hummel Apartments complex. Barkdoll moved the business to its present location at the corner of Fourth Street and B Avenue in 1991.

The Clipper Corner crew continues to serve long-time customers and new customers. Friday morning, Kies worked on the hair of Doris Holst while Barkdoll cut the hair of Grant Moody and his two brothers. This is the first time for the Moodys, who live in Dysart, to have a haircut there.

“How does it look?” Barkdoll asked Grant when she was done with a hair style he had chosen from one of the magazines in the salon.

The boy looked in the mirror and gave her a thumbs-up gesture.