The candy cane pole won’t whirl any more for Bill Greaney. After 22 years, he’s quitting the hair-cutting business. Greaney blamed high overhead costs as he explained why he decided to hang up his shears.
He cut hair at the $4.50 union minimum in his Guild Square shop located in the Talbot Block on August 2 for the last time. Although a sign in the window last week indicated he would merely be on vacation, Greaney opted not to reopen. At age 50, he plans to start a new career as a municipal worker in a neighboring town. Aside from soaring fuel, tax, and rent expenses, Greaney expressed deep frustration with parking difficulties in the Guild Square area, attributing the issue to a lack of parking meters.
Reflecting on the closure, Greaney admitted feeling “sort of a little loss. It’s always nice working for yourself,” adding that he will greatly miss his loyal clientele. Greaney originally began his career in South Norwood across from the Colonial Coffee Shop on Washington Street.
He moved uptown 11 years prior to take over the shop previously run by his late father-in-law, Harvey Paquin. At the time, it operated as a three-man shop, but cultural shifts took a toll. “The long hair just killed that,” Greaney noted, having worked alone for the past six years. Throughout his career, he maintained a traditional barbershop, catering primarily to an older clientele without chasing modern trends. “Norwood is not a hair-styling town,” he observed, though he acknowledged that conventional barbershops were largely struggling as a dying trade despite steady business for his own chair.
Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger
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Harold “Skip” Rideout Expands Marine Construction Business in Southport, Maine-August 13, 1979
Norwood High graduate Harold “Skip” Rideout expanded his marine construction business in Southport, Maine, by purchasing a 42-foot towboat and a 60-foot barge.
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Rescued by Neighbor: Norwood Woman Survives 5-Day Ordeal-July 9, 1979
Discover the heroic story of Jim Rossetsky, an orderly at Norwood Hospital, who discovered his 65-year-old neighbor injured in her bedroom after she had been trapped for five days.
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Norwood Beekeeper Howard C. Ayer Shares Two Decades of Expertise-August 13, 1976
Reflecting on 20 years of beekeeping at his Winslow Avenue home, Harvard electronics specialist Howard C. Ayer discussed the rewards of apiculture, honey production, and pollination alongside his wife Helen.
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Norwood Man Named New Dean At Brandeis University-July 16, 1963
Formerly the State Budget Commissioner, Morrissey takes on oversight of student services while continuing to lecture in politics.
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Norwood Welcomes New Residents Via Welcome Wagon-August 25, 1955
The Norwood Messenger welcomed numerous new families to town who were greeted in person by the official Welcome Wagon Hostess.
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Jabez Sumner of Norwood Remembers Old Stage Coaching Days, And Relates Interesting Reminiscences-This Day In Norwood History-June 22, 1902
CHAMPION OF MODERN RAILROADS. One of the unique and interesting characters in Norwood is Jabez Sumner, who lives alone in Nahatan St, a very pretty residential thoroughfare, and who, for two or three generations, has been one of the best-known men in the village. He leads in part the life of a hermit, but takes…
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