N early half of all new businesses fail within five years of opening, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, yet several businesses on Long Island have not just defied the odds, but are going strong some 50, 75 years and longer. Surviving recessions, owners’ deaths and many other stumbling blocks, these shops and salons have become mainstays of Main Street and shopping centers throughout the Island. Here’s a look at some of these businesses and the secrets to their longevity: When Michael Mazzei moved to Manhasset in 1969, he owned a chain of salons in Queens and Long Island and had his eye on the building that housed Best & Co.
department store on the Miracle Mile. “He felt that having all these multiple salons, he was running from place to place and he wanted to try something in one large location and that this would be the best one,” says Jamie Mazzei, his son and the current owner. Back in the early '80s, it was all about volume and texture when it came to hair as evidence by this archival photo of nuBest.
Credit: nuBest Salon and Spa When Best & Co. closed its doors, Michael moved in and christened the space nuBest in 1973, derived from the department store’s moniker. “My father taught me how to cut hair,” says Jamie, who started working there after school in 1976 and took over the salon with his cousin Vincent Cascio around 2010.
The third generation of Mazzeis now works there: Marco Mazzei, Jamie's older son, is a full-time employee and Jamie Mazzei II, 14, .
