“For many people, we are their salon. For some people, we’re kind of like their salon away from home,” Salvatore Puccini Jr., owner of Puccini Hair Design, said. “We have clients that have been here from probably every single country in the world, certainly from all 50 different states.”
Puccini Hair Design has had a loyal customer base in Oakland for over 52 years. It’s one of the few longstanding Oakland businesses that has remained open, with other Oakland mainstays like Essie’s Original Hotdog Shop and soon Hemingway’s Cafe, that have closed in recent years.
In April 1974, Salvatore Puccini Sr. opened Puccini Hair Design on 110 Bouquet St. Puccini Jr. said the salon moved to Atwood Street in 1994 after the University purchased the property and demolished it to build Bouquet Gardens.
Tammy Snodgrass, a senior staff member and master stylist, has been working at Puccini’s for over 30 years and loves the variety of clients and requests it brings.
“I like the clientele. Working with students and professionals is a good mix,” Snodgrass said. “There is always someone willing to do something fun with their hair.”
More recently, Puccini Hair Design moved from Atwood Street, where they were located for 32 years, to Forbes Avenue.
In 2021, Pitt purchased Puccini Hair Design’s previous location at 233-237 Atwood St. The same year, Puccini Jr. bought the new location on 3810 Forbes Avenue but did not move until this past January.
Puccini Jr. said the opening of the new location was delayed because they needed to renovate the space.
“It had to do with the space not being suitable for a salon. We had to invest a lot of money and overcome hurdles to get it up to code,” Puccini Jr. said. “[In August 2021], I was convinced we would be in the new space in about six to eight months.”
Puccini said he is proud to now operate on Forbes Avenue.
“It’s all corporate stores [on Forbes Avenue]. And then if you go to the side streets, you might see some mom-and-pop stores, but there’s been a lot of changing of the guard over the pandemic,” Puccini said. “A lot of the private messages that we got were like, ‘Wow, it’s so nice to see a small business.’”
Snodgrass believes the move will expand the business even further by attracting more customers.
“We are more visible to people walking down the street, and now that we have a bigger space, [Puccini Jr.] has brought in a few more employees to help service customers,” Snodgrass said.
Micah Yatvin, a senior economics and statistics major, has been going to Puccini’s for two years and believes they are great at what they do.
“Puccini’s is the best place to go for a haircut — they are incredibly responsive, [and] every time I text them, they get back to me very quickly and always try to get me in at a time that fits my busy schedule,” Yatvin said. “It feels good to support a small business run by genuine people, [and] the actual haircut is always elite.”
Kelly Giblin, a junior chemical engineering major, went to Puccini’s for the first time this semester. She called to set up an appointment and 30 minutes later, she was sitting in a chair getting a haircut at Puccini’s.
“I got my hair washed and a lot of layers added,” Giblin said. “I explained to my stylist that I wanted to lose the weight of my hair without sacrificing the length, and she did just that.”
Cassie Matalonis, a junior environmental science major, said she never liked her hair after going to her hometown stylist but was impressed after her first visit to Puccini’s.
“It always felt awkward with my old hairdresser, even though she had known me since I was like five,” Matalonis said. “But at Puccini’s, I actually liked my haircut afterwards, and my hairdresser Mary Beth was so nice. We chatted the whole time about anything and everything.”
Matalonis also emphasized how helpful Mary Beth was with her personal hair concerns.
“I have this small patch of sun damage at the front of my hairline that can really hurt if the hair gets pulled,” Matalonis said. “And when I told her this, she was so accommodating with it. She would let me know if she was going to be near the area and was really gentle [and] careful with it.”
Giblin said that, along with a great haircut, she and her stylist had a strong connection despite coming from different backgrounds.
“I’m a college student, and my hometown is four hours away, and she went to a trade school in the greater Pittsburgh region to get her cosmetology license,” Giblin said. “Despite having pretty different backgrounds, we were able to talk about a variety of different topics, so it wasn’t awkward at all.”