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Abe Lourie with Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp, who says Creative Wigs’ longevity was ‘absolutely extraordinary’.

Letting their hair down: Melbourne wig business turns 65

Abe Lourie has been in the wig business since 1957 and usually prefers to let his products have the spotlight rather than himself.

His Swanston Street store has provided wigs and hairpieces for everything from Phantom of the Opera to the movie Braveheart and Tina Turner tribute acts.

THE AGE BY CAROLYN WEBB

Photographer: Scott McNaugthon

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THE 2017 GENERATIONAL LORD MAYOR'S COMMENDATIONS

Recognise small businesses that have operated continuously within the city of Melbourne for at three generations.

With a business that started out by accident, Creative Wigs has evolved over 55 years to become Australia’s largest most established and longest-standing supplier of wigs and hairpieces.

Photographer: Tatiana CC Scott

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THE 2015 PLATINUM LORD MAYOR'S COMMENDATIONS

Recognise small businesses that have operated continuously within the city of Melbourne for at least 50 years.

Hair today, tomorrow and beyond is the story of Abe Lourie at Creative Wigs. He began as a pharmacist, but soon realised there was an opportunity in hair accessories. In 1957 Creative Wigs on Swanston Street was formed, complete with all the trimmings.

Photographer: Tatiana CC Scott

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THE 2015 BRONZE LORD MAYOR'S COMMENDATIONS

Recognise small businesses that have operated continuously within the city of Melbourne for at least 10 years.

Family ties have helped Creative Wigs grow from strength to length. Three generations of the Grosman family are involved in this family owned and operated business on Swanston Street.

Photographer: Tatiana CC Scott

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Girl with alopecia says "I feel myself again" when she gets a new wig

Eva walks up an old Melbourne stairwell and through the door wearing a pink pom pom beanie and a look of apprehension. But it's not long before she bears a permanent smile.

She's here at a 60-year-old wig business where she can choose anything she likes from its shelves, which are filled with thousands of hairpieces in all different styles, shapes and colours.

FROM ABC NEWS

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Discretion the key to getting ahead for Abe

In 60 years selling wigs, Abe Lourie has seen thousands of people at their most vulnerable. His customers range from teenagers losing their hair from alopecia to six-year-olds with leukaemia undergoing chemotherapy. Businessmen come to him for hairpieces when they’re going bald. Elderly women ask for a natural look because they haven’t told their children they have cancer.

Photographer: Jason South

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Family firm a head of the game

The people behind Australia’s oldest wig store really are the bigwigs in town. Melbourne family enterprise Creative Wigs has come out on top in the Lord Mayor’s Commendations for small business. Joel Grossman runs the Swanston St business with mum Diane and his 88-year old grandfather known to everyone simply as “Mr Lourie”. Mr Lourie founded the company in 1957 when, as a chemist, a salesman offered human-hair ponytails.

THE HERALD SUN IAN ROYALL

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Why is Abe Lourie the best friend of the follically challenged?

A Melbourne businessman has been the saviour of Australia's bald men for as long as many can remember. Wigs and hairpieces have been Abe Lourie's specialities for almost 60 years. His Swanston Street shop, Creative Wigs, is lined with shelves of disembodied mannequins boasting wigs and hairpieces of all colours, sizes and styles.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HEARLD BY KATE JONES

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Hair Apparent

Mr Lourie used to be a pharmacist 50 years ago, on the corner of Swanston and Bourke streets. “Around that time, exciting people were beginning to arrive in Melbourne,” he says. “Entertainers used to come down from the Southern Cross Hotel.” His business changed forever when a Hong Kong supplier came into his pharmacy with two human-hair samples. One was a ponytail and the other was a black hair-switch. Mr Lourie put them in the window and by the end of the week they were gone.

THE MONTHLY BY ALICE PUNG

Photo by Tatiana CC Scott

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