Hair today, gone tomorrow

A Station Mall mainstay is shutting its doors for good.

The staff of Oscar and Dario Unisex Hairstyling and Barbering will serve their final client on June 22, closing the book on over three decades of activity in Sault Ste. Marie.

The current owners of Oscar and Dario, Monic and John Cvengros, broke the bad news to their customers on May 27, writing on Facebook that they have "made the difficult decision to cease operations."

"We want to express our heartfelt gratitude for allowing us to be part of your beauty routine," the married couple wrote. "It has been an honor to serve you, and we cherish the memories we’ve created together."

Memories of Oscar and Dario Unisex Hairstyling reach all the way back to 1989, when Oscar Orazietti and Dario Siciliano rebranded a well-established barbershop with their respective namesakes.

Talking to The Sault Star this week, Siciliano revealed that this establishment went under a couple different monikers since the Station Mall first opened its doors in late 1973.

A 1974 city directory supplied by the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library shows that the store was known as "Lido's Men's Hairstyling" back then.

It was around this time that Siciliano was still trying to make his mark as barber in the Sault, having emigrated from his native Italy to Canada in 1969.

After building his reputation in the community for two decades, Siciliano eventually entered into a partnership with Orazietti at this highly coveted Station Mall location in 1989, solidifying the deal with a name change and some store renovations.

"It was a good shop, busy all the time and it was a lot of fun all those years," Siciliano said. "You met a lot of people."

Current co-owner John Cvengros remembers Oscar and Dario's joint being a hive of activity when he first started attending as a customer in 1990.

"There was a time when they were doing all the Greyhounds' hair," he said. "It was a very popular place."

Stylist Lori Pavoni recalls enjoying a similar kind of atmosphere after she started working for Oscar and Dario in 1994, back when the business was situated next to the Laura Secord chocolate shop in the mall.

"I made a lot of friends," she said. "Not just the customers here, but people going back and forth just for coffee. It was kind of like a neighbourhood."

Oscar and Dario underwent a major shift in management in early 2014, with John and Monic Cvengros taking over after Orazietti decided to retire following 51 years in the business.

Luckily, the pair didn't come into this role completely blind.

Not only was Cvengros an old customer, but his wife Monic was an experienced hairdresser herself, who ran several salons in Northern Ontario and even learned the trade under Siciliano in the mid 1980s.

"She came with all the knowledge of owning a business," Cvengros said.

"I had the money from my insurance when my first wife passed. So I was the money guy and she was the knowledge."

According to Cvengros, the business picked up good momentum in the years following the ownership change, moving to a new location (next to Dollarama) in 2016 with Siciliano sticking around to lend a hand.

Unfortunately, all this momentum hit a brick wall in early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all non-essential businesses across the country.

While the barbershop has been operating at full capacity for a while now, John said they never really "bounced back" from that major disruption and ran into a couple other "unforeseen expenses" that are forcing them to close.

Pavoni also mentioned that the foot traffic in the Station Mall isn't what it used to be due to COVID and the growing availability of online shopping.

"You used to see mothers and their daughters going out for lunch and then they would go shopping," she said. "You don't see that anymore. That family part is gone. It's really sad."

Luckily, Pavoni and the remaining Oscar and Dario staff—Nella Caputo and Megan Ubaldi—won't be out of a job come June 22, as they're planning to relocate to Ezio's Barber Shop on Great Northern Road.

"It's a big change," Pavoni said. "I'm really going to miss this place. I'm going to miss the people and miss being in the mall ... but it is what it is."

Currently, Cvengros isn't sure what's to become of the shop's location in the mall past the closing date.

However, he remains thankful for the opportunity to extend the life of this long-running business, making countless new connections along the way.

"It was about the customers," he said.

"It was about making them feel like they were part of the shop, making them feel at home, making them feel like family."

The Oscar and Dario staff are inviting members of the public to drop by the shop for one final goodbye on June 22. They are planning to serve cake and coffee that afternoon.

kdarbyson@postmedia.com

The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government

Kyle Darbyson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Sault Star