Hair Styling and Coffee Drinking Go Together On One Corner In Moraga

It's not often a hair salon and a coffee shop team up to provide a profitable business venture.

But there sit the Si Si Caffe and the C. C. & Co. Hair Designs next to each other on a quiet stretch of Country Club Drive in Moraga.

Both are owned and operated by Cathy Corsi and her husband, Aldo. The names for both shops come from Cathy's initials.

"We're off the beaten path, but I think that's part of the success," she said.

Corsi has been in the hair styling business for half a century. She worked in salons for a decade before opening her own place in Oakland.

She ran that venture for eight years, but when the landlord raised their monthly rent from $300 to $2,000, Corsi and her husband decided it was time to move.

"We decided that instead of renting a facility, we'd try to buy a building," she said.

A real estate agent showed them the Moraga property and the couple was sold.

That was in the early 1980s. C. C. & Co. Hair Designs has been there ever since.

Corsi still styles hair along with four other stylists who rent space as independent contractors.

"I'm sure over the years we've done everybody's hair in Moraga," she said.

The building next door was a travel agency and then a real estate office. When the real estate agent died 15 years ago, the neighboring space became empty.

Almost on a lark, the Corsis decided to open up a coffee shop.

Si Si Caffe is a relatively simple operation. It sells coffee, smoothies, hot chocolate, tea, pastries and a few other items.

But the shop seems to have found a niche with all sorts of age groups.

Young children get hot chocolates when their parents come in for coffee.

Students from Camino Pablo Elementary School drop by for smoothies.

The young adults from the high schools and St. Mary's College get lattes and other drinks there.

"I think we've got a little bit for everybody," said Corsi.

That includes regular customers like the Moraga seniors group that sits on the patio every Thursday afternoon.

"They get together and fix the world," said Corsi with a laugh.

Corsi's two daughters have also become regulars of a sort.

The women have worked on and off at the coffee shop since it opened. Now, even though the are both in their 40s, they find it difficult to give up.

Lia Freccero is employed at a banking company in Walnut Creek. She adjusts her schedule so she can work at the shop on Wednesday afternoons.

Younger sister Cynthia Corsi works next door at an engineering firm and still opens the shop from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. every Wednesday.

"My daughters basically grew up here," said Corsi.

The Corsis, who have been married for 46 years, still live in Oakland, but they consider Moraga a second home.

They employ local students. Right now, their six employees consist of five St. Mary's students and a Campolindo High student.

Over the years, they have watched their former employees grow up and come back to the shop as customers.

"We've always treated our employees like they're our own kids," said Corsi.