CHRIS MORELLI/THE EXPRESS Gio Montarsi stands outside his new shop. Gio’s is now located at 99 Hood St. in Lock Haven.

CHRIS MORELLI/THE EXPRESS
The interior of Gio’s new shop is shown. It is located at 99 Hood St.

LOCK HAVEN — A popular longtime Lock Haven business has made a move.

Gio’s, home of the $10 haircut, has relocated to 99 Hood St. in Lock Haven from its longtime location at 437 Bellefonte Ave. Owner and operator, Gio Montarsi, was downtown for as long as he can remember. The move, he explained, made sense for a myriad of reasons.

“I’ve been doing this for 41 years,” Gio said. “The move here made sense. I’m getting older, I thought ‘why not move home?’ We have this nice piece of ground here. We built a nice little shop. I can go home for lunch, it’s awesome. You can’t beat it.”

Cutting hair has been in Gio’s blood. His grandfather and father both cut hair for a living.

“My father, Eddie, was a barber with my grandfather and my uncle. My Dad met my Mom and she was going to beauty school, so my Dad went to beauty school. He did both men and women’s hair. My Dad competed at the International Hair Show in New York City every year,” Gio said.

Needless to say, it was truly a family affair for Gio.

“It was my Dad, my Mom and my sister and I. We were in a place on Penny Lane. My sister and I were going to go out on our own and my Dad was going to be a consultant. He wound up being a workhorse anyway. My Mom got out of it for awhile. My sister and I split up. She had her place and I had mine and then I opened a second shop at Penn State,” Gio recalled.

It was a long and winding road for Gio. As he explained, there’s no substitute for practical experience.

“I worked with my Dad for a couple of years. You go to school, you take the test, you pass the test, then your Dad goes, ‘now you’re going to learn how to do it.’ That’s how it happens,” Gio said with a laugh.

The move from Bellefonte Avenue to Hood Street has gone well, Gio said. He gets to see his wife, Linnette, more often. He also can cater to his older customers. They can park right outside the door, rather than searching for street parking downtown.

“I have a lot of handicapped customers; I would go to their homes. Now, they can come here. That was one of the big reasons I moved. I cater to a lot of the older folks, a lot of the older Veterans. I really like working with them,” Gio said.

It has been an interesting couple of years for Gio. Prior to the move, Gio’s had to survive the pandemic, which shut down barber shops and beauty salons for a period of time in 2020.

“That was a big deal. It was amazing. My Dad was probably rolling in his grave that I wasn’t going to work. We were closed for three months, but still had to pay the rent and maintain the new property we just got. It was tough. Luckily, we saved some pennies and we got through it,” Gio explained.

Because he’s a one-man show, he didn’t get any of the pandemic funding.

“It was tough,” Gio said.

He was able to make ends meet by finding some part-time work for Terrapin and Susque-View until the Commonwealth said that shops could open back up.

“I did what I had to do to get through it,” Gio said. “It was a hard six months.”

Now, life is good. At $10 for a haircut, Gio’s is one of the best bargains in town.

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years and my Dad taught me. He charged $10. He said, ‘you just have to move your ass.’ You can’t charge more. He’d say, ‘do it good and do it fast.’ And he told me ‘no lunch.’ You can’t eat lunch,” Gio said with a laugh.

As a kid, Gio remembers his grandfather doing haircuts for 25 cents. His father would stand on milk crates and do straight shaves.

“When they were done, my grandma would give customers a sandwich. Everyone who came in would get a sandwich,” Gio recalled.

Make no mistake about it, Gio loves what he does.

“It’s a great business and it’s a great way to meet a lot of people,” Gio said. “I have so many customers who are friends and they really feel like family.”

Gio’s new location is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday. Just follow the green signs to the shop.