Franco's & Sons Barbershop: 50 years of good haircuts and better stories

Mike Blythe was the first ever customer at Franco's Barbershop, paying $1.50 on March 2, 1967, for a short back and sides.

"I used to get my hair cut by Franco on Speedvale Avenue and when he came down here I came with him," Blythe said Thursday as the shop celebrated its 50th anniversary with an open house at its Wellington Street location.

"Franco, Angelo and the boys have been the only people that have cut my hair for 50 years."

The place has changed a bit over the past five decades: the words "& Sons" was added to the name years ago, Playboy magazines no longer sit in the corner hidden behind plain plastic covers, straight razors were outlawed for health reasons and the price is no longer less than $2.

But many of the faces and the reason long-time customers like Blythe keep returning like clockwork year after year remain the same.

Blythe was one of many regulars on hand Thursday, reminiscing about the barbershop started by the late Franco Figliuzzi and now carried on by his sons Claudio and Paul.

"It's the camaraderie. I love the boys, I love the family and the father was like a brother to me," Blythe said of what's kept him coming back all these years, "and I didn't have to tell them how to cut my hair. They knew how to cut my hair."

Paul is asked what has made the shop such a Guelph institution.

"Tradition. Family. Stories. The Tradition of my father," Paul says.

"Everything in here reminds me of my dad, all the pictures, the conversations. That's probably the biggest thing for me," Paul said.

"Dad used to say 'we cut their hair, but we live through the customers. We're part of their lives and they're part of our lives," Claudio adds.

Franco, who passed away suddenly not quite two years ago, moved to Canada from Italy when he was 13.

He cut hair at a barbershop on Speedvale Avenue for five years before opening his own place. Cousin Joe Manno joined him from the beginning and friend Angelo Di Santo joined not long after.

Di Santo, who retired a few years ago, was on hand Thursday. As was Manno, who still works part time.

"The boys, they drive me crazy, but that's okay," Manno, 75, he said good naturedly of his nephews, now both in their 40s.

"But I still like coming in. I'm like the roof of the house," joked Manno, who has probably given around 150,000 haircuts in his life.

Athletes, mayors, hockey stars, police chiefs, they have all been regulars at Franco's over the years.

Former Guelph Police chief Rob Davis dropped by Thursday, as did Mayor Cam Guthrie, bringing in a pair of framed golden scissors he put together for the occasion.

Manno is asked if he's ever tried to figure out how many.

"A lot," was the reply.