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Old-Fashioned Oakdale Barber Shop Closes After Almost 50 Years

OAKDALE (KDKA) – After nearly 50 years, two local barbers are hanging up their clippers.

As Sarah Arbogast reports, they say it's time for a change of pace.

It's a bittersweet day. After 49 and a half years, an old-fashioned barber shop is closing its doors for good.

There were plenty of tears and hugs at the Tonidale Barbershop in North Fayette. The place was truly one of a kind.

Joe Giangreco picked up his first pair of scissors at the age of 8 in Sicily when his mother encouraged him to learn a trade. Years later, he moved to America, and he met and married a woman from Pittsburgh.

On July 20, 1966, he opened the shop along Steubenville Pike. A few years later, Naz Rizzo from Italy jumped on board.

There is no doubt the two have made an incredible team, and now, after all these years, they are ready to move on.

"I feel very sad, mixed emotions," Giangreco said. "I want to retire because I'm going to be 79 on July 3, and it's time to enjoy my grandkids more. They play basketball, they play soccer."

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But while Joe and 77-year-old Naz will enjoy seeing more of their grandchildren, they'll miss their family at the barber shop – the customers that have been stopping by for cuts and conversation for decades.

"I don't know how they do it, but Joe and Naz know the names of everyone who come in here," customer Pete Rich said. "Every time I've been here, they've known everyone. They know their family, their children, they ask about them."

"I talk to every one of them," Giangreco said. "I know about the name, I know the family, 50 years is a long time."

Both Joe and Naz say they will stay in the area, and although they won't work side-by-side every day, they will still see each other.

"Maybe we still will cut each other's hair," Rizzo said.

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