Even with his 90th birthday on the horizon, Ronald Korff isn’t ready to hang up his scissors. He’s cut hair at Darmstadt, Indiana’s Village Square Barber Shop since Sept. 9, 1965, in what was a bustling shopping center generations ago.
Old-school? Korff defines it. He gave his first trim on April 12, 1956. These days, he works by appointment only, and you can forget about paying him with any type of plastic. “Part of that is being a hard-headed Dutchman,” he explains.
The cost ($14 for an adult) gets you a sharp haircut; the conversation is a bonus. A devout Christian and proud veteran, Korff gladly chats about his three years in the Army and two decades in the Army Reserve. He held the rank of master sergeant when discharged on June 30, 1973. His shop displays several military mementos as well as a Don Mattingly print; the Evansville baseball legend used to live nearby.
Longevity in business requires loving your job and being kind, Korff explains. “I’ve still got customers from those first couple months that I was open,” he says. “I had a customer this morning who was 93. If you take care of people, they take care of you. And I have tried to be halfway decent to people.” He says his philosophy toward work lies somewhere between “don’t quit” and “don’t overdo it.” He spaces out appointments, so he’s not on his feet constantly.
Husband to Nancy and the father of three children, Korff is still mulling over retirement. “My family has been on my case for over a year about quitting,” he says. “But I just feel better when I’m in here. And I like what I do. I want to at least work till I’m 90” — that’s May 18. “And then I’ve had several guys say, ‘Yeah, you’ll get to be 90,’ and I say, ‘I think I’d like to work until 91.’ And maybe I will.”
Korff’s daughter, Tara Schnur, says she loved growing up in her dad’s shop; the memory of smelling hot lather foam for straight razor shaves is still strong. She, for one, is not eager to see her dad retire. “It is amazing to see him still thrive at doing the thing he loves the most,” she says. “It is most definitely his happy place.”
