The barber chair is back open at Wally’s Barber Shop after a fire ripped through the building in Luzerne County back in January.
AVOCA, Pa. — The sound of clippers is one that customers thought they may never hear again.
For 23 years, Wally’s Barber Shop sat along McAlpine Street in Avoca, until it didn’t.
“If people don’t come through the door, I don’t have no lights on, and for that I’m grateful,” said Wally Alapic, Wally’s Barbershop.
A fire tore through the building back in January, forcing people from the apartment upstairs and ripping through Wally’s barbershop below.
“Well, I had 23 years of clutter, so the fire actually helped me purge that,” said Alapic.
Now, two months later, Wally’s chair is back open. On the same exact date, the business first opened 23 years ago. “The landlord was willing to redo it for me, as quickly as he did. And you know, he put me in first, and he’s doing the rest of renovation little by little. And I’m grateful, and if I was out of business a little bit longer. I don’t know,” he said.
As Wally starts anew, he’s welcoming the old; customers waiting for more than just a trim. The same customers who sat in the same chair for decades are now filling that seat once again.
“If you find something you like to do, you never work a day in your life. And this is like the only job I don’t mind going to work,” Alapic added.
As the clippers are once again buzzing, it’s the sound that proves this barbershop is more than just walls.