Schenectady barber plans to retire after 41 years in business

Tucked beneath a shelf at Mario DiMeo’s barber shop is a certificate proclaiming an infant’s first haircut.

The writing on it is barely legible now, and a once-black lock of hair from the 1-year-old child that is taped to a corner has faded to gray. The date on the certificate reads June 2, 1970, which coincides with the day DiMeo first opened his business on State Street.

“He’s 42 years old now, and he still comes in,” DiMeo chuckles. “Now, he brings his kids in.”

The customer is among many who have grown up with the 70-year-old Italian immigrant. His oldest customer is 85, and DiMeo’s been cutting his hair since he first started working in Schenectady more than five decades ago.

DiMeo built his business with hard work and dedication, which is why it’ll be tough for him to step away from it at the end of August. The barber who regularly works 60 hours a week and closes for two weeks in the summer will hang up his scissors so he can enjoy the life he’s built for himself from the ground up.

“I want to be able to do things while I’m still healthy to do them,” he said in a conversation at his shop in the city’s Vale neighborhood.

That includes spending time with his two daughters and four grandchildren. DiMeo, whose wife died three years ago, also plans to visit his sister in Italy once he closes the shop. DiMeo’s retirement could mean more business for other traditional barbershops like his. But that doesn’t mean they’re happy he’s going, said Renato Viscusi, the owner of a four-chair shop on Mariaville Road in Rotterdam.

Vicusi’s brother Bernie, who left Italy around the same time as DiMeo, once worked with him in Schenectady.

Now both are retired and Viscusi is making plans to turn over his business to his son in the next couple of years.

“It’s sad to see him retire,” he said. “On State Street, he was one of the oldest.”

DiMeo started training to be a barber when he was 12 years old and living in Ruviano, outside of Naples, and began cutting hair when he turned 15. Two years later, he came to the United States with his parents.

Like many immigrants to Schenectady, DiMeo came in search of opportunity. But it was no easy chore for a young man unable to speak English and with little more than the clothes on his back.

Mutual friends introduced DiMeo to Ralph Vitallo, an Italian-speaking barber who operated a shop on Craig Street. Vitallo helped DiMeo learn his first words of English.

“I couldn’t even communicate with people,” he recalled of his first year at Ralph’s Barber Shop. “Ralphie would have to explain to me what they were saying to me.”

For the next 12 years, DiMeo would work at Ralph’s and at another shop on Erie Boulevard. Then, in 1970, he finally decided to start working for himself.

DiMeo opened his first shop at 918 State St. and remained there for 37 years, until the rented location was purchased by a church three years ago. He then moved a couple of blocks down State Street.

At first glance, DiMeo’s shop looks much like that of any other barber. But on closer inspection, some of the more historic elements of his trade come into view.

The twin chairs he uses were built by the Theo Koch Co. and are close to a century old, with leather straps dangling from the side for sharpening straight razors.

The vacuum he uses to clean up hair clippings was bought when he first opened his shop 41 years ago.

“And it still works,” he proudly proclaims.

Leaving the business after so long is somewhat bittersweet for DiMeo. Even though he’s still more than two weeks away from retirement, he’s already missing his customers.

“My customers kept me going,” he said.