"My business has been ruined, but my life has not."
Hector Irizarry wrote that line in an open letter to the town, which TAPinto Chatham published on October 5. Nearly a month earlier, a fire had gutted his barbershop on South Passaic Avenue. He had owned it since 1981. The letter does more than say goodbye. It tells customers where their regular chair went. The shop is gone, and his letter sends customers to the two longtime stylists who made it feel familiar, now taking clients a short walk away on Main Street.
The call before five in the morning
The fire started in the early hours of Wednesday, September 9, at 5-7 South Passaic Avenue. Hoboken Girl, citing News 12 New Jersey, reported that it broke out around 4:30 a.m. Heavy flames began toward the back of the building. Firefighters from Chatham and surrounding towns kept it from spreading to nearby apartments and businesses. No one was inside either salon, and no one was hurt.
That same day, Borough Administrator Stephen W. Williams told WRNJ that the fire did not appear suspicious. He said police, county and borough fire marshal investigators were still working to determine the exact cause. TAPinto Chatham's first report said the fire hit the back of the building and damaged both businesses there: the Chatham Hairstylist and Two01 Salon.
In his letter, Hector writes, "a phone call before five in the morning is rarely a bearer of good news."
A $5 train ticket and nearly 45 years
Hector's own account of how he got to Chatham explains why so many families felt the loss. At 20, he borrowed five dollars from his mother for a round-trip train ticket to Chatham and started as an apprentice barber. Two years later, in 1981, he bought the business.
The shop's own website put the scale of that run in family terms. More than 50 families had a third generation coming in every month, and six families had reached a fourth generation in the chair. The site also said every employee had been with the shop for more than 12 years, and one for 35. It called the shop "a place where we try to know each customer's name," a place to meet friends "as even customers know each other."
Hector's letter describes the room the same way:
"Our space was far more than a place for a haircut; it was a sanctuary of comfort, a venue to celebrate life's milestones, a room filled with laughter and tears, and a forum for lively debates on sports and politics."
Those numbers point to the main lesson of the fire. For decades, customers saw the same faces in the same chairs. The fire took the room, and the familiar faces went on to another salon.
Where the chairs went
The letter says nothing about Hector rebuilding his own shop. Its most practical paragraph is about the people who worked with him. He calls his longtime stylists his sisters and asks readers to support the two Irenes, stylists who share a first name, as they begin their next chapter. "They will be welcoming clients at Luxe Salon on Main Street in Chatham," he wrote, and he listed the salon's number so customers could book directly.
Luxe on Main Salon lists its address as 234 Main St., Chatham, and its phone number as (973) 701-7696, the same number in Hector's letter.
For a regular who hasn't had a cut since September, here is how things stood as of Hector's October 5 letter:
| Who | Before September 9 | Where to find them |
|---|---|---|
| Hector Irizarry | Owner of the Chatham Hairstylist since 1981 | His open letter in TAPinto Chatham |
| The two Irenes, longtime stylists | Chatham Hairstylist, South Passaic Avenue | Luxe on Main Salon, 234 Main St., (973) 701-7696 |
| Two01 Salon, owner Ashley Branda | 7 South Passaic Avenue | Original salon at 728 Grand Street, Hoboken |
Calling 234 Main St. before you go is the simplest way to book a familiar chair. The salon's phone number is the one Hector chose to print.
The newer shop next door
The fire also hit a business that had only recently arrived. In January 2025, TAPinto Chatham reported that Two01 Salon was opening its second location in the space T.M. Ward coffee had occupied on Passaic Avenue. Owner Ashley Branda grew up in Hoboken. She opened Two01 there, settled it into its permanent home at 728 Grand Street, and celebrated ten years in business before expanding to 7 South Passaic Avenue.
Branda told Hoboken Girl the Chatham salon "suffered a total loss." A SupportNow fundraiser for Two01, created the day of the fire, describes extensive damage and asks for donations for Ashley and her team.
One shop had spent more than four decades on South Passaic and the other less than two years, and in both cases the people outlasted the room: two stylists now taking clients on Main Street, and a team whose original salon still operates in Hoboken.
Folding a Main Street haircut into the holiday stretch
The timing works out for anyone who wants to book now. Late November and early December give people plenty of reasons to be downtown.
The Borough calendar lists Santa Comes to Town on Saturday, November 28, at 4 p.m., two days after Thanksgiving. It also lists a Menorah Lighting at Reasoner Park on Sunday, December 6, at 7 p.m.
Main Street also has a newer place to eat. Ori's Cheesesteaks opened at 231 Main St. in August. TAPinto Chatham covered it as a family business started by the Chaudhry brothers, who began with Namkeen Chicken. A haircut at 234 Main and lunch at 231 make an easy Saturday errand.
Near the end of his letter, Hector thanks the town for "your decades of patronage, your enduring loyalty, and your cherished friendship."
I've lived in Chatham for decades, and losing a shop that four generations of families walked into is the kind of change I follow closely, along with where the people behind those shops end up. If you'd like to talk about downtown Chatham, the businesses that make Main Street work, or anything else about the Borough, reach out to Karen Torrente. Let's Connect.
