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Date: 6/26/2019
CHICOPEE – Lacking some confidence in yourself? Ashley Batlle, owner of Beauty Batlles Lounge here in the city, is hoping to change that for her clients.
Batlle, who hosted the grand opening of her salon at 661 Front St. on June 19, said confidence is her main goal.
“This is an advanced beauty service lounge,” Batlle said. “My main goal is to make people feel more confident in themselves.”
Batlle offers such services as waxing, lash and body contouring, and microblading.
“Microblading is a semi-permanent tattoo for eyebrows,” Batlle explained.
While relatively new to Chicopee, Batlle has been in business since March of 2018, operating in rented space at Salon 413 in Holyoke.
“I was offering the same services there,” she explained. “I was outgrowing the space I was renting for the services I was providing.”
Batlle said she started looking for a new location in December of 2018, and shortly thereafter found her current office.
“I found this location in January and then it got serious,” she continued. “On March 1, 2019, it was confirmed that I had the place.”
Batlle was originally hoping to stay in Holyoke, since she lives there and was involved in the community. She is not entirely unfamiliar with Chicopee, however.
“I grew up in Chicopee and graduated high school here,” she said.
She added that she hope to get involved in the community here as well.
While she may be new to owning her own business, Batlle herself has been a licensed cosmetologist since 2002.
“When I was in high school, I decided on cosmetology as a fallback option if whatever other career I had didn’t work out,” she explained. “The way I saw it at 17 is exactly how everything played out.”
After traveling to New York and Connecticut to take makeup jobs for a number of years, she then did sales, which Batlle said helped her learn how to manage a business.
She became certified in microblading in 2018, as a way to expand her services and add extra income.
Batlle said the hardest part of opening her own business was getting everything up to code for both the Board of Health and the Board of Cosmetology.
“I had to get things up to date and make sure everything was done properly for both boards,” she said.
She said her clientele comes from all over Chicopee and surrounding areas, although there is one particular client she is hoping to draw in.
“I do cater to men and women,” she said. “I actually have been trying to get more men in here.”
Batlle is certified in every service she provides and offers free consultations for select services.
“My main thing is I want people to feel comfortable here,” she said. “I want clients to come in here and develop friendships in a comfortable relaxed environment.”
Anyone who would like more information about Beauty Batlles Lounge can visit www.beautybatlles.com.