Owatonna welcomes new barbershop

Owatonna residents are welcoming a new barbershop to the city.

George Castaneda opened Smith and Sons, 159 18^th St. SW, last summer, but the official grand opening was held May 2. When he first opened, he said, the space was not completely finished, and he didn’t even have a proper barber chair at first.

Castaneda said he grew up in Owatonna and he had a passion for cutting hair for a long time, starting when he was 14 and he and his brother cut each other’s hair. As time went on, he said, his brother lost interest, but he kept cutting hair more as a hobby than a possible career. In fact, he said, from 14 to 30 he continued to cut his friends’ hair but instead of for money, he did it for food.

The rest of his family left Owatonna for California, he said, and he moved there for a while but “it was not my thing” and he returned to Minnesota. He said he was without a job during the pandemic and before finally getting a job at Walmart. A co-worker told him about Bobby Gutierrez of The Barbershop downtown, and he went to see him about a job as a barber. After a long talk, Castaneda said, Bobby told him that if he completed barber school, he would give him a job.

He connected Castaneda with the owner of Molar Barber School in the Twin Cities and Castenada was on his way.

He attended school in Columbia Heights while still working at Walmart. It was hard work studying, working and commuting every day but “it was something I really wanted to do.” It paid off when he graduated in 2021 and started working for Gutierrez.

The owner of Molar Barber School, he said, told him that if he worked for three years as a barber and had his license he could apply for a position as an instructor at the school. He did that, he said, and now he teaches at one of the Molar locations in West St. Paul.

Teaching, he added, works both ways. While he teaches the students to become barbers, they teach him how to be a better person, he said.

Currently, in addition to running his own business, he said he teaches every Thursday and every other Monday and Friday.

When he first opened the shop, he said, he had one employee. Now there are four barbers with room for a total of six.

He said he sees the barbershop as a place where people can not only get a haircut but also as a safe place to interact with each other. He has a TV and music in the shop, he says, and changes them depending on the clientele. Specifically, he said, if he knows children are coming to the shop, the TV will be showing cartoons, and if teenagers are coming, the music will be more to their liking. He also has an assortment of snacks for his clients.

A question he is often asked, he said, is how the shop got the name Smith and Sons.

Castaneda explained that his business partner is Klee Smith, a man who he looks to as a father figure. He said that when he was 12 or 13 his father was “out of the picture.” He said he started to hang out with Smith’s son Damien and Smith, a military veteran, would invite Castaneda to family gatherings and provided stability for him.

When Castaneda was considering opening his own business Smith offered to become his partner. He said that he went through different names but because of his relationship with Smith, and the fact that Smith had four sons of his own, Smith and Sons just was a natural fit.

Castaneda said he has big plans for his barbershop and maybe someday he will even start a barber school of his own as currently all the barber schools are located in the Twin Cities.

For now, he said, the shop is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The shop offers appointments, walk-ins, modern and classic cuts. The facility also has a quiet room or sensory room for those who cannot handle loud environments and welcomes both men and women.