Clip Joint celebrates milestone anniversary of business in Whitefish

Through all the changes downtown Whitefish has seen in the last 70 years, the Clip Joint has remained the same.

Originally Herb’s Barbershop, started by Herb Knuth in 1947, the Clip Joint is celebrating two special anniversaries this year. As a business, the shop is in its 70th year, and owner Melissa Franklin also just hit a milestone 20 years as owner.

“It’s not just been a job, it’s been a big part of my life,” Franklin said, reflecting on what has made Clip Joint special. “You get to know people so well when you spend 20 minutes with them once a month for 20 years. People feel like family.”

When Franklin started cutting hair at the shop she didn’t exactly expect to jump up in the ranks.

After working for roughly 10 days, the previous owner was burnt out and ready to get away from the business.

“It just kind of happened,” Franklin said. “It just kind of fell in my lap and it’s been amazing.”

For the next seven years she worked alone, until traffic began to pick up enough that extra help became necessary. Clip Joint currently employs two people, Brittney Smith and Maddy Coogler, while Franklin manages from afar in her home in Maui, Hawaii.

A friendly atmosphere is what makes the Clip Joint special and keeps the customers coming, Franklin said.

“They like the relaxed nature,” she said. “It’s just different than a salon in that way. We talk about fishing, hunting, how many bears you saw. It’s just really down to earth.”

While small talk is usually exchanged during haircuts, Franklin remembers times when the shop has been a gathering place on more solemn occasions.

Franklin recalled driving into the shop on Sept. 11, 2001 and hearing the news of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City on the radio. While she was going to close up shop for the day, she quickly realized how much her confused and frustrated customers needed the shop to stay open.

“It was just surreal,” she recalled. “I got to the shop and was going to put a note on the door, and all these people started to come in. All these people were coming in wanting to talk, wanting a place to go, to share and commune in the tragedy. I ended up being super busy.”

“I was really touched and felt such gratitude that I could be there and provide this place when people didn’t know what to do or think. It was a beautiful thing,” she added.

Since taking the reins 20 years ago, Franklin said the shop has remained largely unchanged from how Knuth set it up in the early days. Aside from a few pieces of arts and plants, the rest is a snapshot of the past for customers to enjoy. Children still enjoy getting their hair cut on the riding horse Knuth added in the 1950s, and the seats that replaced the original waiting chairs are historic theater seats donated by the Whitefish Middle School during the construction of the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.

Franklin even gets calls asking if she’ll sharpen saw blades and clippers, a service Knuth offered back in the shop’s initial years.

Through the shop’s windows she’s seen Whitefish change over the last 20 years, but it’s obvious that the sense of community never faded during the town’s evolution, she said.

“Whitefish may be growing, but it’s still such a beautiful tight knit community, and I’ve been so thankful to be part of that,” she said. “That whole shop tradition of it being a place to go talk and vent and share, that tradition is still very much alive.”