After 45 Years, This Barber's About To Cut Loose
Illawarra Mercury
Tuesday November 29, 2005
WHEN Rocco Lopresti set up his barber's shop in Fairy Meadow almost 45 years ago, seven shillings would see dapper gents right for a crew cut.
In time, those customers would bring their own sons for a trim, but no more - the tradition ends tomorrow when the veteran barber wields his scissors for the last time. Mr Lopresti will be retiring after nearly 45 years of business in the same location. "Only on holidays did I ever move, and then I came back," he said.Originally from Calabria in Italy, Mr Lopresti opened Rocco's Continental Barber in the years when Fairy Meadow still lived up to its rustic name."There was nothing here, there were still dairy farms and only a few shops - I've seen a lot of changes, and a lot of people coming and going," he said.Some of 64-year-old Mr Lopresti's first customers still settle in to his traditional barber's chair. They will help to celebrate his retirement."I still have a few regulars that have been coming in since I first started - they're sad that I'm closing and I am sad too, but I am turning 65 years old," he said."I have cut the hair of kids and then their kids - one day I had a fellow bring his kid in, and he said he had been the same age as his son when he first came here."I enjoy cutting hair, meeting people and talking to them - one of my older customers was in today and he is coming on Wednesday for a bit of a party."Mr Lopresti still does the odd shave, although he says they aren't as popular as they once were, and he knows exactly what haircuts his regulars want."When I first started I was doing crew cuts a lot, then the long hair came in and some of the kids started to go to hairdressers with their mothers," he said."I have mostly cut fellows' hair, sometimes they have wanted new styles like a short spike, or the young boys ask for streaks - but I don't do those."I love Fairy Meadow, I have lived here since coming to Australia and I will stay in the area - I would like to thank all my customers, past and present."
© 2005 Illawarra Mercury
