Long-time Bethlehem barber Denny Roebuck is hanging up his clippers as he retires from his 43 year career in barbering at the end of August. The 65-year-old says it’s time to “do all of the things that I couldn’t do for all those years” running a single chair barber and hair styling business on West Broad Street.

“I was blessed for the last 25 years to have 500 different friends every year,” says Roebuck, who attended Lehigh Barber School and started out giving haircuts under the tutelage of barber Maurice Kaufmann.

He estimates that over his career he has given over 130,000 haircuts.

Twenty-one year old Saab Saloum, a graduate of Liberty HS and the Lehigh Valley Barber School, is buying the business and plans to stick strictly to barbering and plans to become involved in the community.

“You always want to meet the community as a small business owner,” says Saloum.

Stopping by to help Roebuck retire, 97-year-old former barber James ‘Ishie’ Abraham gave haircuts for 60 years, the first of which cost just $.65. Abraham himself retired from barbering at age 90.

Roebuck held an open house at his shop Aug. 27 to “thank his customers and to introduce them to Saloum.”

Roebuck’s advice to Saloum was simple: “Don’t be like us and let the business run your life. Expand by bringing in a second chair and another barber, so you can relax and enjoy life.” Working by himself, Roebuck said his annual vacation was one week of unpaid time off.