At Smitty’s Barber Shop in Battle Ground, owner Tonja Smith and barbers Mara Smothers and Cassidee Hoffmann are all cleaning up after a day’s work in their new shop, a door down from their previous suite.
The last tonsorial instruments disappear into cherry-red toolboxes.
The shop is clean and masculine, with live-edge wooden benches, expertly poured concrete counters and a leather couch. Still to come is a TV where movies will play, according to Smith. The shop’s atmosphere is the product of the combined taste and experience of Smith, Smothers and Hoffmann.
“I always wanted a place that people come in and … they feel at home, for one. They don't feel like they have to go to one specific person if they had that person prior. I want them to come in and know that they could get anybody to cut their hair and have … a great haircut and good atmosphere,” Smith says.
Smith founded Smitty’s in 2016, and Smothers has been at her station there since 2018. Hoffmann joined the team more recently in 2023.
Throughout the remodel, the trio has leaned on each other, as well as family and friends.
“My husband, I swear, he doesn’t want to stop by because he’s afraid I’ll just put him to work,” Smith said.
Taylor Ruotsalainen of Uniquecrete Concrete Services was also an indispensable help.
“What I've learned throughout my life is you have to really enjoy what you do,” Smith said. “And if you really enjoy what you do, you're good at it. But first, you have to enjoy the people you're around. If you don't enjoy the people you're around, then you're not going to enjoy your job.”
This goes for her team and her clients. All three women were drawn to barbering early because of the job’s sociability and deep client relationships.
“We know everything about them, how they met their wife, how long they’ve been married, what their kids were like when they were little, what their grandkids were like,” Smothers said.
Clients from all over Oregon and Washington keep regular appointments at Smitty’s. Many of them have been coming for years, through personal triumphs and tribulations.
Some have been coming since they were children.
For Smith and her team, these relationships are the heart of barbering.
“I like when you say, like, if I could remember everything my clients told me, I can do anything,” Hoffmann said to Smothers. “Your clients on cooking, yardwork, cars … If we could remember everything, we'd be kabillionaires.”
“Total kabillionaires,” Smothers agreed.
Smitty’s Barber Shop is located in the Dollars Corner area at 7216 NE 219th St., Battle Ground. Smitty’s is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
For more information, call 360-702-9999 or visit smittys-barber-shop.square.site.
