ToquiNotes: After 34 Years, Bridgeport's Mario Oliverio Closes up Shop on Profession with its Roots in Italy
By Jeff Toquinto on February 15, 2025 from ToquiNotes
Getting into one’s career can take many shapes. You can go to school. You can train for it. You can fall luckily into it or take it out of necessity.
Sometimes, you can start early at it – in another country on another continent. Such is the case with Bridgeport resident Mario Oliverio. And we will rewind his historical scenario shortly after we tell you why the background is important.
Earlier this year, on Jan. 1, 2025, to be exact, Oliverio, the owner of Mario’s Barber and Styling situated at 127 South Fourth Street in
Clarksburg, closed up shop. He did not have a better job offer. He did not need a new location. He did not decide to work for someone else.
Clarksburg, closed up shop. He did not have a better job offer. He did not need a new location. He did not decide to work for someone else.
Instead, Mario Oliverio did something that always seems like it will not happen to a community fixture. The Stout Street resident retired.
His daughter, Rosalba Oliverio Nutter, recently shared her father’s story with me, which includes a unique start to a business that became synonymous with downtown Clarksburg. And it is certainly an interesting one.
“He ran his business on Fourth Street for the last 20 years and prior to that he used to have a shop on Court Street,” said Nutter. “Prior to that, he worked with Bo Oliverio in Nutter Fort.”
His wife, Mary Ann Oliverio, let me know he had been in business for 34 years. While that is lengthy, it is not unheard of, even in the barber industry where those doing the trade end up becoming intertwined with the fabric of the community.
What makes Mario Oliverio’s profession story unique is how it began. He began cutting hair in San Giovanni in Fiore in Italy, where the 
majority of Italians in West Virginia came from.
majority of Italians in West Virginia came from.
“My dad’s godfather taught him how to cut hair, in San Giovanni in Fiore,” Nutter said. “His godfather later moved to Rome where he opened a barber shop. He watched his godfather work, enjoyed watching it and had his godfather teach him.”
The lessons were learned, and the rewards came before coming to America. Nutter said Mario Oliverio won an award in France against hundreds of barbers and stylists.
Eventually, he would find his way to American. He came to the United States in 1980, Nutter said. While he had a trade to turn to and family to stay with in Clarksburg, he was missing a wife.
“My mom lived in Nutter Fort, and a mutual friend set them up. He didn’t know my mom very long, maybe a couple of months, and he proposed to her,” Nutter said. “It’s a love story for the ages.”
The couple, still together today, settled in Nutter Fort in the house where Nutter’s mother lived. Eventually, they would move out of Nutter Fort about 30 years ago and settle in Bridgeport.
During that time, his love away from his family was his profession. Nutter said he never missed a day of work going Monday through Saturday and taking Sundays off.
“He loved it. He particularly enjoyed connecting with people and eventually becoming friends,” she said. “When we go out to this day, you will always hear ‘Hey Mario.’ I teased him that he was a local celebrity, and he just laughs it off.”
The love of his profession made the decision to call it a career difficult. Nutter said the family wanted him to step down as she said he was still good at his job, but his body was aging, his sight was a little worse, and it was time to step back and stop.
“Closing that chapter was really hard. It was like asking him to cut his arm off because he loved it,” Nutter said of her father, who will turn 80 this year. “He found out he could still enjoy life through his family, particularly more time with his children and grandchildren. It has given him new purpose.”
Nutter is one of four children to Mario and Mary Ann Oliverio. She has three older brothers – Joseph, Battista, and Mario. They have provided four grandsons and two granddaughters to provide Mario with a full slate of activity.
“After being apprehensive to leave, now he’s grateful to be able to leave because he found success,” she said. “It wasn’t that he felt his family was rich in wealth, but rich in love, family, and friendships. A lot of that is the result of him being a barber, and our entire family is thankful he took that up in Italy.”
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Mario Oliverio putting his touch on a young client at his shop in Clarksburg. Second photo shows a 13-year-old Oliverio getting an early start to his profession in Italy. In the third image, he is shown taking care of one of his grandson's hair for a special day. In the fourth photo, Mario and his wife are shown at the baptism for one of their granddaughters. Bottom photo, from left, are Mario; Mary Ann; his son Mario (in front his grandson Andrew); Nicole; Joseph; Dominick (in front Rosalba's son Alexander) and Rosalba holding her second son Liam; Adam; Battista; and Ashley. All photos courtesy of the family.
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