Frank Castiglione says he has always thought it would be neat to be able to offer beer at his barbershop.
Castiglione is the longtime owner of the Sportscut barbershop off Shirreff Street in North Bay.
And after a more than a two-month process, he has become the first North Bay barbershop to be able to serve ice-cold beer.
“For years, even when I was down on Lakeshore Drive in my first 15 years [of business] I used to get many guys often say it would be really cool to have a beer while they were waiting to get a haircut or while they were getting a haircut. So the idea has been there for a long time but it was not until I saw an ad in the Toronto Star about two years ago that the first barbershop in southern Ontario got licensed, that it donned on me that I could get a license,” explained the longtime North Bay barber.
“I have not heard of any other northern Ontario towns having a liquor licensed barbershop, I think we could be the first north of Barrie technically to have it so we are pretty excited,” added Castiglione, who got the license approval in early September.
Castiglione and hairstylist Marcus Tignanelli both were required to take a smart serve course as part of the process. He also got feedback from young parents to see how they felt about having beer available at the barbershop.
“Surprisingly very positive, even from some of the moms,” he said about the feedback.
“I think that was one of my biggest concerns was having moms with young children but I had many of them tell me it was a great idea.”
Castiglione has also teamed up with local company Gateway Brewery and will be serving their suds.
“We just figured we would help support local as well as having a few other brands but obviously we are not going to go too big because we are certainly not a bar. It is just the convenience of having some beer here,” he said.
