OMRO, Wis. — As soon as the door opens, Rich Mitchell gives his work a rest.
Someone needs a hug.
As he approaches, you’re kind of expecting one of those hit-and-run bro hugs. But it’s not. It’s an embrace. The kind that says he’s glad you’re here. The kind that says you are the most important person in the room.
The kind that says, “Where the hell am I?”
Rich’s Barber Shop is one of those places your dad may have told you about. It’s a welcoming spot, a place where you can always get your hair trimmed, but one that you can stop in anytime just to shoot the breeze. It’s a modern day, bygone era business.
“You sit back and have a great conversation with him and you know it’s not just going in one ear and out the other,’’ said Zach Beek, who on this sunny morning made the 97-mile trip from Madison in order to have his conversation and a cut. “He actually cares. It’s a relationship.”
But 200 miles round trip for a haircut?
“When you’ve got something good, why change it?’’ said Beek, who first went to Mitchell when he had a shop in Oshkosh and has stuck by his side since. “And it’s great here. The conversation you get to have with him, the greeting; everything. The whole atmosphere here. It’s just a small shop, but the atmosphere is still big.”
His phone rings continuously with people looking to make appointments, and there’s a certain irony to the idea that folks like being around Rich Mitchell today because, for many years, it just wasn’t that way.
Rich Mitchell was born in Riverside, Calif., and nobody would want the hand he was dealt.
“My mom, she used to get beat up by her husband,’’ he said. “And my grandfather was running from the law in California.”
The family moved to Clintonville where they had relatives, but Mitchell’s life soon began to spiral.
When he was 14, he was already in a group home in Appleton. At age 15, they sent him to Lincoln Hills youth prison for two years. A few months after he got out, he committed a strong-arm robbery on a drug dealer and that was 10 more months in county jail. Two months after he was released, he committed an armed robbery and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, of which he served 14 1/2.
Prison life wasn’t any easier. He classified himself as “an aggressive inmate’’ who did multiple stints in solitary confinement.
“Prison life and street life is … you guys will never understand because you never lived it,’’ he said. “The smell, everything you hear, what you see … it sucks.”
Exacerbating the situation was his mom’s health. She had suffered a series of strokes when he was in prison and passed away two months before he got out.
“She was my biggest fan,’’ he said. “It was one of those things that was tough for me. It hurt me, badly.
“But it made me a better person at the same time because I know what she would want."
It’s not hard to figure out what any mom would want for her son, and for Mitchell it began when he developed a shine for a woman who had been visiting her brother in prison.
“I saw her get on the visiting room (log) and I told my sister, ‘Hey, she’s coming up here today. And I want you to go let her know I think she’s beautiful and I’d like to get to know her and I’m a good guy,’’’ Mitchell said. “And that’s exactly how it happened. I wrote her a little note on a napkin. And I pushed it to the edge of my table. She came by and she swiped it off the table and put it in her pocket.
“And in the next couple of days, I was on the phone with her. … I came home, we got married, had a couple kids, life is beautiful. This year, we will be married seven years. She is definitely my best friend.’’
Prior to that, Mitchell earned his high school equivalency diploma in prison and completed a barber cosmetology program.
“It was time I needed to reflect on life and see what I wanted out of life,’’ he said of prison. “And I think a big reason for my success is my wife (Heather). You have a good woman that grounds you, and keeps you reminded of what’s important. That really helps.”
Amy is from Neenah. She was a stay-at-home mom of five in November 2018, when her world was turned upside down and inside out.
Her husband of 15 years ran afoul of the law and now he was gone. She had four boys, a baby girl and no income.
“The kids were going to have holiday concerts and church programs and all those things that come with the holidays,’’ said Amy, who had been a previous customer of Mitchell just once. “Haircuts were just another thing. With four boys, now I have to come up with $75 to get haircuts. And so I just messaged him and asked, ‘Can we get like a haircut now pay later’ type of deal?”
She explained what happened, and on his way home that night, Mitchell did a Facebook livestream explaining Amy’s situation.
“He just said they had people left and right trying to help in different ways,’’ said Amy. “He started a fundraiser for us. He got Christmas gifts, and people dropped off laundry detergent, diapers, clothing, shoes and a turkey. Somebody offered a weekend getaway in the Dells. He coordinated all of this. And it was just so helpful.’’
Over time, Amy was able to pay Mitchell back. And as time went on, she would offer to help him when she could, and he continued to help her family.
“One of my sons, he has autism and with the trauma of our family, he had some behavior issues,’’ Amy said. “And he didn’t – he was really adamant one day going in there – he didn’t want to get his haircut. He was dead set against it. I don’t know what Rich did, but he got him to do it. I can’t get him to comply with anything most of the time.
“So that’s a big thing for me as a mom because to see somebody else happily agree to interact with him is a big deal to me, because most of the people who are interacting with him are teachers and mentors and therapists and family members, people who don’t have a choice. They’re either paid to do it or they have to do it. And he didn’t have to. He could have been like, ‘Get that kid out of my store.’ But he just did it.’’
This is Rich Mitchell today; a humanitarian with an altruistic mindset.
He gives free haircuts to veterans on Veterans Day, and free back-to-school cuts for kids in need. He holds Christmas for families in need at his shop, which includes breakfast with Santa and gifts. Along with other community leaders and businesses, they host a free party at Scott Park in the summer.
“And tons of people show up,’’ he said. “They have a blast. It’s a free day for everybody. They get to eat, water balloon fights and DJs. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Mitchell also visits prisons, as well as schools, to share his story.
“He’s always willing to help, and he doesn’t want anything in return,’’ said Stephanie Kromm, City of Omro Community and Economic Development director.
“There are people who say they want to help, but they always have a little bit of an agenda behind it; maybe, are we going to get something back? He literally wants nothing and you can feel that from him. He just wants to give people opportunities and do what he can to help them out. He helps those who may not have a way to help themselves.’’
So the question you want to ask is, ‘why?’
For someone who spent years in prison, getting out and starting a business would be a success story. Why all the extra effort?
“Because I used to be a POS, know what I mean?’’ Mitchell said. “And it’s just one of those things where it feels great to actually give back to the community. I mean, you’ll probably never make it right with certain communities because that’s where crimes have happened and stuff like that. So you kind of feel obligated to help people out and do better and, plus, it’s like therapy for myself. To help people makes you feel good and get rewarded by self gratitude for it. So I mean, it feels great for me to be able to do it.’’
Kromm hopes that kind of perspective on life becomes contagious in her community.
“I think the neat thing about that is, when you meet genuine people like that, it can kind of spark it in you,’’ she said. “So you meet him and see, 'Wow, he literally just wants to help people.' There’s nothing behind this. And it kind of … I hope, at least for me, that’s what it does. It makes me want to help more people and you don’t need anything back. So, hopefully it sparks it in other people, too.
“I’m super thankful he is here. He definitely brightens the day. He brightens the city.’’
Story idea? You can reach Mike Woods at 920-246-6321 at: michael.t.woods1@charter.com