Heather Latter
After 16 years in Fort Frances, Brenda and Mike Tullio, along with their children, Aiden and Mia, will be relocating to southern Ontario to be closer to family.
That also means two local businesses—Nirvana Salon and The Ear Clinic, both located at 261 Scott St.—will be closing their doors this Friday.
“It was a really hard decision,” admitted Brenda Tullio. “We’ve loved it here—the area, the community, the people.
“But family is too far away for both of us.”
Tullio noted the couple first moved to Fort Frances in 1997 after she became an audiologist.
“When I graduated from university, this was the only full-time permanent posting in Ontario that I could see,” she noted, referring to the position at the Northwestern Health Unit that she held for nine years before opening The Ear Clinic.
“We had never been to the area, but the mindset was we’ll come and give it a shot for three years and see how things go,” she recalled.
“When we came to check it out, we thought it was so beautiful,” she added. “And everyone was so friendly.
“That was something that really struck me.”
Not only did they stay for 16 years, they had two children and built two viable businesses in the time they were here.
Mike Tullio originally started as a hairstylist at Tracy’s Hair Studio back then but eventually opened Nirvana Salon and Spa.
“I thought of bigger and grander things,” he remarked, noting the building had been empty so he bought it and decided to give his own business a shot.
The Ear Clinic also moved into the space.
So after running their businesses side by side for several years, the decision to relocate was not an easy one.
“It’s been a really emotional decision for me especially,” Brenda Tullio admitted. “I don’t do good-bye very well.
“We’ve just been telling people as they come in about the move,” she explained, indicating the response they’ve received from the community has been that they are disappointed to see the family leave.
“It’s nice to know we’ve had a positive impact,” she remarked.
“My experience, I guess I could liken it to breaking up [with] a girlfriend during the day in a bad way,” Mike Tullio chuckled, referring to what it was like telling his clients he was relocating.
“‘What am I going to do?’ is a statement I’ve heard the most,” he added.
“There are a lot of hairstylists here, so I’m sure they will find someone they like . . . but it’s still hard.”
Brenda Tullio, meanwhile, has been letting her clients know about other options for audiologists, such as Jackie McCormick at the Fort Frances Enhanced Hearing Centre, which opened three years ago.
“I couldn’t have done it if there wasn’t someone else here,” she stressed.
The couple is hoping they’ll be able to sell the building where their businesses have been located.
“It’s a good building and has undergone some major renovations over the past few years,” Brenda Tullio noted.
Her husband said they are open to all options for the building as they would hate to see it sit empty.
The couple added Fort Frances held a lot of firsts for them—her first position in audiology, his first business, the couple’s first home, and having both their children born here.
“It will always hold a lot of good memories for us,” Mike Tullio stressed.
Having enjoyed the laid-back feeling of a small town, the Tullios decided to stick to that style of living by moving to Meaford, which has a population of 14,200 and is about 25 km east of Owen Sound.
While the pair admitted their children not overly excited about the move, they said they are resilient.
And luckily their eldest, Aiden, has attended an air cadet camp in southern Ontario and already has met a few kids from Meaford.
“They’ll be fine—it’s a new adventure,” Mike Tullio reasoned.
Brenda Tullio plans to get the family settled and integrated in the community, then will focus on setting up her own practice there.
Mike Tullio also plans to open a salon in the town.
But they both wanted to thank their clients for their support over the years in Fort Frances.
“They are the people who made me successful in this town,” Mike Tullio stressed. “They stuck with me through all the changes.
“It’s been a wonderful go.”
“The support has been overwhelming,” echoed Brenda Tullio. “For me, a lot of my clients have been with me since the health unit.
“And even when they have other options, many are still with me now.
“It’s really been an honour to have a positive impact on their well-being,” she added.
