Cristoforo Roman loves the small town atmosphere he has found in Winchester, and is happy to share his considerable talent with his customers. Morin photo

The Trieste Barbershop compliments Winchester’s Main Street

WINCHESTER – Trieste is the capital city of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. It is a port city located on a thin strip between the Adriatic coast and Slovenia’s border on the limestone-dominated Karst Plateau. 

Cristoforo Roman, is a barber who came to Winchester three years ago to make a living cutting the hair of area men and women in his new shop (Trieste Barbershop) on Main Street in the small village.

He named his barbershop Trieste after the city his father was born in.

His family came to Canada in 1957. His father was the one in his family who did all of the hair cutting and he encouraged his son to consider becoming a barber. Cristoforo brought his skills to Winchester in 2017.

He was working as a barber in Ottawa, often for the big chain hair salons in the city and he was not all that happy.

After cutting hair for twenty years, attending Algonquin College for business and then further enhancing his hair cutting skills with a hairstyling licence, he found he was longing for a small town atmosphere, working in his own barber shop.

He dreamed of a barbershop in a small village where he could quietly get on with his life.

One day he noticed an advertisement for a barber to take over an existing barbershop in Winchester. Long-time Winchester barber, Bob Summers had just passed away and the landlord for the office space Summers had been using, in the rear of the Main Street’s Winchester Lions Club A-4 Thrift Store was looking for someone to continue operating the barbershop.

“I had just gotten my hair styling licence and I didn’t like where I was working,” said Cristoforo

He took over the shop in Winchester.

Three years later his landlord mentioned that one of his buildings on Main Street was unoccupied.

The tenants he had been expecting had changed their minds and now the space at 490 Main Street, right across from his original location was vacant.

Cristoforo jumped at the chance and agreed to move in.

After a little painting and some decorating he was ready to open his new barbershop.

Moving was not a problem.

“I did it all in one day,” he said. “After doing haircuts all day in the old shop I stopped for a few hours to take a break then moved everything over to the new location with the help of his girlfriend Alyza Aliviano.

“I always wanted to own a small town barber shop,” he said.

He explained that he was originally from Chatham, Ontario.

When he finally got his small shop he dedicated it to his father Carlo and called it the Trieste Barber Shop.

Since coming to Winchester, Cristoforo has slowly built up his clientele. He offers a wide variety of hairstyles for men from a brush cut to a regular haircut.

His menu of kinds of haircuts includes skin fades, flat-top, buzz cut, beard trim and a razor shave.

He does a small number of ladies’ haircuts but does not have the facilities yet to do hair colouring and washing.

His new location has room to expand when he is ready, but for now he is happy to have a shop on Winchester’s Main Street.

The shop has a large window facing the street that lights up his work area.

“I am happy here,” he said.

The Trieste Barber Shop hours are: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

His phone number is 613-413-2624.

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