London Inc. September 2022 - 18

Upfront Enterprise
A TRIM FOR
THE AGES
Vince's Barbershop
opened in Old East Village
the same year Pac-Man
was released, and the
conversation has been
going on ever since
VINCE IOELE RECKONS he may be
the oldest - and likely the longestoperating
- entrepreneur along his
stretch of Dundas Street in Old East
Village.
Stroll east on Dundas from Adelaide
Street and you'll find the barber's
pole that marks the spot: Vince's
Barbershop Men's Hair Stylists. A bit
of a misnomer because, although there
are three barber chairs, for the past 42
years Ioele has mostly operated as a
one-man shop.
As he is quick to point out, Ioele has
actually been barbering in OEV for
half a century in total - and for a few
years prior to that in his native Italy.
" In our town, most kids when we
were 12, our parents sent us to learn
a trade after school so we wouldn't be
running around on the street, " he says.
Ioele chose the local barber shop,
which was always busy, and quickly
progressed from sweeping and cleaning
to lathering up faces to prepare
them for shaving and learning basic
barbering skills. He got his barber's
license in Italy as a teenager.
After immigrating to London at
the age of 18 and getting his license
to cut hair in Canada, Ioele first
worked at the Embassy Barbershop
for eight years before moving down
the block into his current space. And
stepping through the doors of Vince's
Barbershop today, you'll see pretty
much what his customers saw when
Ioele first hung out his shingle - a
no-frills, comfortable space where
18|londonincmagazine.ca|SEPT 2022
" I'D BE HAPPY IF SOMEONE WAS
INTERESTED IN TAKING OVER,
BUT FOR NOW I STILL LOVE
DOING THIS " -Vince Ioele
London Inc. September 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of London Inc. September 2022
