Gino Marino at his shop in Kamloops, Gino's Barber and Hairstylist.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

A barbershop in Kamloops has been operating for just shy of 50 years.

Gino Marino has been cutting hair at Gino’s Barber and Hairstylist since he first opened up shop in Brocklehurst in 1973.

“I am a very sociable person, I love people, that’s what keeps me going,” he said. “People keep coming back, over and over again.” 

Hairstyles have changed over the decades and some of Marino’s clientele have come and gone or passed away. The neighbourhood around the shop has changed and grown over time, but Marino keeps trimming beards and mustaches and cutting hair.

He still enjoys it and has no intention of stopping anytime soon.

“I know everyone in this community,” he said. “People come in here all the time to say hello. They were young and they grew up so sometimes I don’t recognize them at first, but they tell me I used to cut their hair when they were little. It’s pretty nice.”

One thing that hasn’t changed much is the shop Marino works in.

It is more reminiscent of the shop he first started working in at the age of 12 in a farm village in Italy, than it is of modern salons, a relic in many respects.

The shop is small and the walls and shelves are decorated with souvenirs from “the old country”, family photos and a frame holding the first business license he purchased for $37 dollars. There are strings of dried red peppers and bulbs of garlic hanging in some places. There are stacks of local newspapers and magazines for customers.

Gino's Barber and Hairstyling at 33-1800 Tranquille in Kamloops.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

“I just recently took a lot of the items down and sold them,” he said, pointing at an old framed photo of the village he grew up in.

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Marino first started his career at home at the age of 12 as a hairdressing apprentice where he would clean up after haircuts and hope for a tip.

He came to Canada in 1970 when he was 17 years old, in search of a better life, something he said was not out of the ordinary for kids like him at the time.

“It was OK,” he said. “One day my dad told me to go. It was normal at the time.”

Marino first arrived in Kamloops and worked as a labourer for his brother, pouring concrete, then went to a local school to learn how to speak English.

In 1971 he went to a vocation school in Vancouver for 6.5 months taking a course in haircutting.

“I had to start again getting experience and certifications in cutting hair here,” he said. “I came back to Kamloops and worked as a barber at a shop in the old Woodwards.”

In November 1973, Marino bought his shop in the Brocklehurst neighbourhood, one week before the neighbouring Bamboo Inn opened. 

“Not much was here in the beginning,” he said. “There was a coffee shop, hardware store, drug store and bank. Businesses moved and others slowly got established over the years.”

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Marino said his was a busier and more lucrative business “back in the day.”

“If my kids were not grown up and my mortgage not paid, the business would not work, I’d be broke,” he said. “People used to pay more. Now some of them come in for a haircut and then run away without paying for it.”

He has saved a lot of money over the years by doing his own hair and beard trimming.

“When I was young and the hairstyle of the time was a shag style, I had to get someone to do the back for me,” he said. “But since then I do it myself. Sometimes people who don’t know I’m a barber compliment me on it.”

Gino's Barber and Hairstylist at 33-1800 Tranquille Road in Kamloops.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

With a remarkable 50-year anniversary on the horizon, Nov. 1, 2023, Marino said he doesn’t have many plans to celebrate it.

He is considering getting some shirts made up with his logo on it, but mostly, he plans to cut hair that day.

If he feels healthy he will keep on going as long as he can.

“It is the relationships I have with people,” he said. “People just come by to visit. I’m still having a great time.”

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Marino wouldn’t wager a guess at how many customers he regularly serves, or how many heads of hair he has cut in almost five decades.

Gino’s Barber & Hairstylist is located at 33-1800 Tranquille Road.

He doesn’t have a website and isn’t on social media.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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