De Nolf's Barbershop

From time to time I meet a person in whom the character of South Bend seems to come alive. Ethan De Nolf is one such person.

Ethan, his wife, and their 2-year-old daughter had just moved back to South Bend from Virginia when I met him last summer. Over the past seven years, Ethan had founded and operated Virginia Barbers Club, an association and barbershop in the heart of Old Town Alexandria, and arrived in South Bend with plans to open a new shop.

In four short months, Ethan found a space, a long-vacant storefront on the corner of Michigan and Monroe Streets, and renovated the entire 2,500 square feet himself. In September, he opened the new shop—De Nolf’s Barbershop.

Throughout the renovation process, Ethan formed mutually beneficial partnerships with antique sellers, who sell their wares throughout the shop, local music aficionados, who curate the playlist, local photographers, who helped document the shop’s creation online, and Goshen-based Embassy Coffee, who opened a coffee bar in the space just last weekend.

These are stories worth telling independently: an old, vacant storefront repurposed; a bootstrapped renovation; a business built on friendships turned partnerships; a son of South Bend returning home. But it’s in the amalgamation of these stories that a six-month old business could inspire my roommate to ask, “Is that one of those 100-year-old barbershops?”

“Something like that,” I responded.

And so, on the evening of Thursday, February 20th, I stopped by for a haircut and two days later, I stopped by for a morning coffee. This is what I saw.

Ethan De Nolf and his counterpart Jason Bogard are available by appointment only, and Embassy Coffee is open to the public Monday through Saturday 7am-3pm.

Book a haircut on the shop website.

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This story was written and photographed by Jacob Titus.