When Karen Pompetti Bonetti wakes up every morning, she is flooded with nostalgic memories of her soon-to-be-former job.
Her emotions are all over the place as she thinks about the customers — the retired fire captain, the detective, the roofer, the doctor and the stromboli maker — all devastated by her decision to sell Pompetti’s Barbershop after 68 years of doing business in South Philly.
Her father opened the shop on the 2300 block of South Woodstock Street in 1935. Through the years, he trained a countless number of barbers, but was surprised when his own daughter entered the shop in search of job training in 1980.
"I had just dropped out of school, and my dad offered me the chance to come in and learn how to cut hair. I thought it was an interesting job to have as a female because the profession is pretty male-dominated," says Bonetti, 38.
Customers embraced the father-daughter duo, and when Pompetti died in 1984, many customers took the news by breaking down and crying in front of his daughter. The display of emotion by grown men stunned the then-19-year-old, who quickly realized just how much the barbershop meant to local residents.
As the years passed, Bonetti began to look at her customers as members of her own family — many of whom she ran to embrace as they walked in.
"I look forward to seeing all of them. It’s the only barbershop I know of where you hug and kiss on sight," Bonetti says with a laugh.
To hear Bonetti speak of the bond with her customers, you can almost feel the love.
And love was certainly in the air during the infamous Blizzard of ’96, when a weary snowplow operator entered her shop in search of some relief and a decent haircut. He left with a date and, a year later, was married to his barber.
Bonetti, the mother of a 17-year-old and a 4-year-old, says that all of her energy goes into her family, which is why she finally settled on selling the beloved barbershop.
"A family can be a full-time job, you know? I want to be there for my kids and for my mom, who is now 76 years old," she explains. "But it’s killing me to say goodbye to all of the people who have shared their lives with me for 23 years."
By and large, her customers have not taken the news well. Many have insisted that they simply go to her home in Delaware County
for haircuts from now on. Others have moved Bonetti with touching compliments and fond farewells.
While she has not ruled out returning to the profession a few years down the road, Bonetti has resigned herself to making this weekend her last as a barber for now. During its final business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the shop is sure to be filled with a lot of stories and tears.
"I was so lucky — I had a job that loved me back!" Bonetti says.
Indeed, in its 68 years, Pompetti’s proved very rewarding to its staff, including Victor Picariello, who started out at Pompetti’s and went on to open one of South Philadelphia’s most celebrated barbershops.
Picariello came from humble beginnings, cutting hair in a small village in Italy at age 13. In 1959, he and his family came to America and, after only two weeks, Picariello started working at Pompetti’s.
"I was so glad to have a job, you know? And the people at Pompetti’s were great," Picariello says.
A few years later, he was searching for a new apartment when his real-estate agent told him a small barbershop was for sale on 17th Street near Oregon Avenue. Picariello snatched up the place and Victor’s Barbershop was born.
"I really wanted to have a bigger shop, so soon after, we moved from the old shop to the current one on 16th and Oregon," Picariello says.
His greatest joy came from watching his shop and business grow as time passed.
"I only started out with one barber’s chair," Picariello says. "Next thing I knew, we had seven chairs and a lot of nice customers."
The shop has netted Picariello dozens of awards over the years for hair styling. The most notable was the equivalent of the Oscar award for hair styling, which he won in Paris in 1965 — the first of seven times he received the coveted prize.
Picariello’s success has been bolstered by his long-tenured barbers, who are known as much for their unique humor as for their skill with the scissors.
"I’ve been going to Ralph Cella for as long as I can remember," says one patron, Alex Bruno. "You can always count on Ralph to crack you up with a one-liner — and give you a good cut, of course."
Picariello had no problem pinpointing the lure of the classic barbershop experience.
"You give a good haircut, keep the shop clean and treat the customers right. What else can you ask for?"
