Frank’s Barbershop to close after 76 years

Frank’s Barbershop, a cash-only, walk-in shop at 623 Main St., will close Aug. 14 as longtime owner Christine Gilligan retires.

Gilligan has run the business for 15 years, though it’s been in her family since 1990, when her father bought it from the original Frank — Francis “Frank” Fichera. Fichera was a World War II veteran who operated the shop for more than 40 years, and asked Gilligan’s father to keep his name attached after the sale. 

Both Gilligan’s father and husband asked whether she wanted to rename the business after buying it in 2011. She kept the original name. “It’s been Frank’s for 60, 70 years,” she said. “I’m good. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

Gilligan never thought she would be a barber. But her first career as an office manager proved challenging to juggle as she raised three children alongside her firefighter husband. At 31, she joined the family business at her father’s request. 

It wasn’t as simple as picking up a pair of clippers, though. Massachusetts requires 1,000 hours of barber school, a written exam and a practical state board exam. Gilligan also had to spend 18 months working under a master barber — luckily, her father was available.

Frank’s has served generations of Waltham families, including groups of cousins, brothers-in-law and uncles. Gilligan says at one point she was cutting the hair of 16 members of the same family. 

Though the shop closed temporarily during the pandemic, those customers faithfully returned despite a plethora of other options on Main Street. The reliable $22 haircut and lack of complicated appointment system, as well as the comfort of the familiar, kept them coming back. 

“It’s like a large extended family,” Gilligan said. “Somebody will come in and say, ‘Oh my god, how did you remember that?’”

After 30 years of barbering experience, Gilligan said her reason for retiring is tied to family changes. Her two daughters have recently married and are planning to start families, and she intends to help with childcare. All three of her children — a teacher and two nurses — have careers with employer benefits, which is something her line of work couldn’t provide them. 

Gilligan has also run the shop entirely by herself for six years, and the daily before-dawn commute from Lowell has begun to take a toll. On what she’s most excited to do in retirement, she said, “Sleep.”

It’s important to Gilligan that the Frank’s name is retired with her. “I really want the customers to know how thankful I am for them because they’ve been the backbone. I appreciate each and every one of them.”

Frank’s will be open until Friday, Aug. 14.