Chet’s Hair Studio in Joliet celebrating 70th anniversary

A Joliet hair studio is celebrating its 70th anniversary – and wants the community to celebrate, too.

Chet’s Hair Studio will host an open house with refreshments from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the studio at 1212 W. Jefferson St. in Joliet. The location of the business hasn’t changed in 70 years.

“Jefferson Street was one lane in each direction and there were only two businesses – Honiotes Grocery and Rooney’s Corner Gas Station – to the west of here,” Chet Rutkowski, now deceased, recalled in a 2014 Herald-News story. “It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.”

Lora Ferebee of Joliet, who’s patronized Chet’s Hair Studio for 45 years, praised both Chet Rutkowski and Steve Rutkowski, Chet Rutkowski’s son who now runs the studio.

Ferebee loves that Steve Rutkowski is “always remodeling” and that someone always greets her when she arrives.

“And I always get a great hair cut here,” Ferebee said.

Steve Rutkowski said Chet Rutkowski, a World War II Navy veteran who also grew up in Joliet, founded the hair studio in 1954 as a four-chair barber shop offering 85-cent haircuts.

“The guy who sold the property wanted to be the first customer,” Chet Rutkowski said in 2014. “The contractor who built the building wanted to be the first customer. The Chamber [of Commerce] president wanted ... I said, ‘Of course.’ I told all of them they were the first customer. None of them were.”

Steve Rutkowski, who started styling in 1979, said he took the helm in 1992 when his father became ill and saw no reason to change the name. Chet’s Hair Studio now has six stylists, including Steve Rutkowski, he said.

 “All of the clients know all of the other stylists. It’s just a really nice warm atmosphere, I think.”

—  Steve Rutkowski, Chet's Hair Studio, Joliet

Through the years, Chet’s Hair Studio adapted to the times.

“In the late 60s, my dad started seeing styles change from military to The Beatles and that pretty much changed everything,” Steve Rutkowski said. “So my dad went back to school and he learned how to cut and color women’s hair as well as men’s. He was pretty much a front-runner at that time of unisex styling.”

But even more than weathering challenges and honoring trends, Steve Rutkowski said the success of Chet’s Hair Studio rests more on what hasn’t changed: the striving to be a cut above the rest.

“My dad was always really good with people,” Steve Rutkowski said. “And everyone that works at the salon has been there for many, many, many years. We have not had any kind of turnover in the staff. So everyone has their own clientele and repeat clients for many, many years – decades really.”

Steve Rutkowski said stylists schedule their own appointments with their clients Tuesdays through Saturdays at the client’s convenience.

‘It’s kind of like a really small family,” Steve Rutkowski said, “Where everyone that goes there all feel comfortable. All of the clients know all of the other stylists. It’s just a really nice warm atmosphere, I think.”

For more information about Chet’s Hair Studio or to make an appointment, call 815-729-2033 or visit Chet’s Hair Studio on Facebook.