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Date: 9/20/2023
CHICOPEE — While being a barber is Ricardo Diaz’s job, helping others and giving back to the community is his true passion.
At the age of 19, Diaz started cutting hair, with a dream of one day opening his own business.
Most of his career was spent in Holyoke, where he worked at the same shop for 10 years.
In addition to his love for barbering, Diaz enjoyed mentoring other barbers and clients.
He shared, “I am huge on entrepreneurship.”
As Diaz practically ran the Holyoke shop, he thought to himself, “If I could run a whole shop, I could own my own shop.”
Diaz said, “When I started, I had nobody.”
About five years ago, he took the skills he already had and enhanced them — while also learning new skills — from YouTube videos.
“My goal is to help others [because] I didn’t have that,” he said.
In 2021, Diaz’s dream came true when he opened Faded Barber Lounge in Chicopee.
He described his business as a “tight-knit barbershop” and “family-friendly” environment.
Including Diaz, there are six barbers. “[We all have the] same passion [and] everyone has the same entrepreneurship mindset,” he said.
In 2022, the barbers came together and came up with an idea to host a back-to-school event.
Diaz explained that they take part in a similar event in Holyoke that is hosted by Ed Caisse of the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department. He said this “huge” event draws in crowds and has backpack giveaways for students.
“Owning a business in Chicopee, [I] never heard of a small business doing something like this and [I] wanted to do it,” Diaz said.
Faded Barber Lounge hosted its first back-to-school event in 2022, which Diaz said was a “little rough.” However, with hopes of changing that in 2023, the event was well advertised across the city.
On Aug. 28, the community came together for the second annual event, which was significantly different than the first.
Diaz shared that Faded Barber Lounge gave out more than 100 free haircuts to children — almost doubling last year’s total — and 250 backpacks were distributed.
Every backpack was filled with notebooks, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, dry erase markers and more back-to-school essentials.
Diaz explained that the barbershop partnered with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department as they do 100 free haircuts at Casey’s event, backpacks were provided for this event. The rest of the funding came out of pocket, he shared.
During the event, the Chicopee Police Department handed out free ice cream, C&T Pizza offered free pies, along with free hot dogs and water.
The space for the event was offered by Chicopee Street Market.
Additional attractions at the event included a DJ, dancing, bounce house and face painting — all of which was free for the children.
In total, Diaz said there were about 500 people that attended.
The event was scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. but ended up lasting until about 6 p.m. “because everyone was having a great time,” he shared.
Following the successes, Diaz said individuals and businesses have already reached out about being involved next year, such as Roger’s Place in Chicopee, who would like to serve ice cream.
“[The] community is starting to see what we’re doing,” Diaz said. “Everyone [is] on our side.”
Diaz shared that he plans on hosting this event every year. “I plan to give out 500 backpacks next year,” he said.
He went on to say that if a child can be provided with free back-to-school haircuts and supplies, parents might have the extra money to pay for the school uniform or purchase the pair of sneakers their child has been wanting.
“We’re inspiring people,” Diaz said. “[We are] setting some type of standard.”
Faded Barber Lounge is also hosting a trunk-or-treat event on Oct. 29. Diaz said this will be a “nice,” smaller event that will take place at the barber shop, 974 Chicopee St., from 5-8 p.m.
All the trunks will be decorated for Halloween and handing out candy. Roger’s Place will also be offering free coupons.
Diaz said this is the first time hosting this event, but everyone at Faded Barber Lounge is “super excited.”
Around Christmas, Diaz said they also do a little something, such as handing out toys and decorating the shop with lights. Last year, Diaz dressed up as Santa and took pictures with the children.
Faded Barber Lounge advertises its events on Facebook.
Diaz said there are always promos going on, including for seniors.
Faded Barber Lounge also has its own booking system and app. Through the app, customers can view the barbers, check availability, book appointments, learn about prices and more.