John Troncelliti Barbershop Remains Open

After serving the Main Line for 60 years, John Troncelliti planned to close his Wynnewood, Pa barbershop for good by the end of September. Losing customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with being forced to keep his barbershop closed for 15 weeks, swayed him to close his doors forever, However, because The John Troncelliti Barbershop (located at 50 E Wynnewood Rd) was a Main Line fixture for so long, the Wynnewood Shopping Center owners wanted him to stay.

“Here’s what they told me,“ said John Troncelliti: “’Just so you know John, there won’t be a padlock on your door October 1. If you want to continue, we can put you on a temporary month to month lease for the time being.’ I got a reprieve.” For Troncelliti, the shop was home. His father and grandfather were barbers. When he was a boy, he helped them out.

“I swept the floor, shined shoes, and was responsible for putting away all the equipment,” said Troncelliti. “I enjoyed being there.”

He decided to become a barber in order to follow in his father’s footsteps.

He has been cutting hair for 50 years - since 1970.

In his early days of barbering, a number of other barbershops went out of business because they refused to change with the times. He refused to let that happen, therefore, he kept up with the latest styles.

According to Troncelliti, until the ‘70s, men and boys traditionally kept their hair short.

“When I went to Lower Merion High School in the ‘60s, boys had to have short hair,” said Troncelliti. “That was part of the dress code.”

Troncelliti continued:

“By the mid ‘70s, you could wear hair any way you wanted; over the ears, over the collar, you could look like a rock and roller.”

He said that one way that the hair dresser industry hurt the barber industry was that some barbers were narrow minded.

“They thought that long hair was only going to be a brief phase, and it would pass, but it lasted much longer.” He said that certain barbers refused to give customers long haircuts. “Customers started gravitating to the Cosmetologists and beauticians because they know how to cut longer hair. They gave the clients what they wanted because my concern was keeping up with the latest styles. To be successful, you had to change with the times. We did.”

The 1970s was not the first time that the barber industry changed drastically. Until the mid-18th century, barbers did more than cut hair. They pulled teeth and amputated limbs. In addition, they did bloodletting.

Because not everyone in Europe could read, red and white barber poles were put up. The red stood for blood, and the white stood for bandages. In the U.S., the barber poles were red, white, and blue. Blue stood for veins.

“The veins were where the barbers sliced you to do the bloodletting,” said Troncelliti.

This year, COVID-19 caused barbershops and hair salons to suffer.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic erupted here, his barbershop thrived. But then when his business closed for 15 weeks, he still had to pay the high cost of rent. Worse, when he reopened, some of his customers never came back. Some of them now preferred to keep their hair long, while others preferred to practice social distancing. He also worried that his business Could suffer an even worse fate if he were forced to close down again for another lengthy period of time. But now these worries are behind him. He is uncertain how much longer he will keep his shop open. Whether he stays in Wynnewood or not, he is definitely NOT retiring.

“The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that I was retiring, and that’s not true,” said Troncelliti. “I never said that.” If he had closed the shop he still would have worked as a barber and even possibly establish a mobile barbershop.

For more information about The John Troncelliti Barbershop, log onto http://barbershop.tronce.com/