The Leaside Barber Shop at 423 Sutherland Drive (behind the Domino’s Pizza) has closed. The long-time business of owner Lui Lavecchia has fallen to the LRT construction. Mr. Lavecchia spoke to the East York Mirror and complained that his landlord seemed to think that a new wave of prosperity had swept the street even as crews dig holes all over the landscape as part of the LRT construction. In fact, the Leaside shop has been hidden from Eglinton for months by an enormous underground access facility that blocks Sutherland north of Eglinton. “It makes me cry but I’ll be OK, my customers will support me,” Lavecchia said. “Local people always did support me. I was a barber to them, they were customers to me, but we were more like friends.” The Mirror records that the Leaside Barber Shop first opened in 1944. Mr. Lavecchia has owned it since 1979. Lavecchia has accepted a job with a neighbouring barber shop, Mister Barber Lounge at 814 Eglinton Ave. E. in the middle of the block between Sutherland and Laird Drive. He hopes to bring his customers over to the that shop.
