Pine Island Family Hair Salon owner celebrates 50th anniversary
This month, Marvia Cicchino, with Pine Island Family Hair Salon, will celebrate 50 years as a hair stylist. When she came here in 1974, Cicchino said, there were only two salons on the island. After being asked repeatedly, she finally agreed to run one of the other shops, a decision, she said, which made her the youngest hairdresser on the island.
“When I moved to Matlacha, it was a very laid-back fishing village. There were no banks or large chain groceries stores. There were five small gas stations, three mom-and-pop grocery stores — Matlacha supermarket, Browns Grocery and St. James general store. Going to Cape Coral or Fort Myers to do banking or go to a large grocery store was like going to the big city back then. I kind of miss those days, but with time comes change,” Cicchino said.
After Hurricane Charley ravaged Pine Island, she said she decided to purchase her salon from the previous owner and she’s been here ever since. Being considered a non-essential business during COVID hurt many small business owners like her, she admitted.
“So we recouped from that and then, of course, Ian hit,” Cicchino said with a chuckle.
She credits the success of the salon, in part, to her employees who stayed the course with her, through both the COVID pandemic and Hurricane Ian, as well as the more recent Helene and Milton storms.
Cicchino is also grateful for her salon customers, whom she said are very faithful.
“We’ve managed to keep the doors open and keep running,” Cicchino said.
Working around leaks and ceiling issues are something her crew has learned to handle, she said. Cicchino admits she is very grateful to island organizations, such as the Greater Pine Island Alliance, Matlacha Hookers and the Beacon of HOPE, in particular, for all their help following Hurricane Ian.
When thinking about what stands out most to her after all these years, in typical islander fashion, she chooses to thank everyone else, saying she could not have done it without them.
“If you can ever find a way to help someone else, that’s the most rewarding thing. I’ve learned to be thankful for even the smallest things, that no matter how hard whatever you’ve gone through has been, there is always someone who has had it harder than you have. I thank my girls for hanging in there with me. Without my customers and their customers being loyal and coming through, we wouldn’t be here. We have a fun place, I think,” Cicchino said.
Stylists celebrating with Cicchino are Lori Runner, Robin Weber and Jess Hawk.
Someone new, displaying her talent full-time at the salon, said Cicchino, is stylist veteran Sandra Carter.
Pine Island Family Hair Salon is at 9848 Stringfellow Road, St James City. To make an appointment or for more information, call 239-283-7000.
To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email