it’s Raph
It’s Raph... a lot of you know him from being the main man behind ‘The Spot’ that has gone from strength to strength in the heart of our Port.
Yep, they deliver the freshest of cuts to all that sit in the chair. But what you may not know is as soon as you dig a little deeper Raph along with the rest of ‘The Spot’ crew have huge hearts & continue to give back to the community we all call home.
We just had to swing by ‘The Spot,’ to catch up with Raph & find out more!!
With a huge following of loyal customers that know when they are on to a good thing, ‘The Spot’ is going off big time!! Raph is quick to let us know, “everyone that comes to us are so loyal & supportive of what we’re doing”
Having just hit their 2 year stint in the Port, ‘The Spot’ has gone to a new level & to celebrate the milestone they’ve just moved into a brand new shop... Raph adds, “we decided to go for it & it worked. We out grew the old shop & have moved into a bigger & better place, just around the corner from the old place... so it’s still in the heart of the Port.”
It’s a credit to what Raph & the crew have created, Raph reckons, “you get here on a Saturday morning and we’ve got a line up out on the street. We operate like an old school barber shop floor, it’s all walk ins.”
Raph thinks that now they are in the new much bigger shop, with four barbers going at a time, he might make an exception and start doing some appointments for the business guys in the area.
As all good champions do, Raph is very quick to share the credit for all the success of ‘The Spot’ “it’s a huge team effort with the crew, Sam, Tui, Gea & none of this would be possible without the support of my wife Sharr, she does so much behind the scenes to keep the shop operating smoothly.”
When asking Raph why he does what he does with all the community based projects where he’s giving back to the youth... Raph adds, “It wouldn’t of mattered if it was a barber shop or coffee shop or whatever... I wanted to do something to give back. I had a bit of a hard up bringing & we were doing it tough and it got to the point that when I eventually got set up, I wanted to give something back.”
Raph explains, “I’ve done a bit of youth work and worked a lot with the indigenous community in the Finders Rangers. I used to do a bit of youth work and a mentoring program with the indigenous community with a local group. My brother, Mum and I used to live in the Port going back some 20 years ago. I spent all my life B-boying & breakdancing and I got a gig teaching dance to the indigenous youth.”
As things evolved Raph worked with a team that would travel up to Leigh Creek and do workshops for the kids.
Raph remembers being part of such great work in the Flinders Rangers, “it was crazy, there where kids out there that had never seen a record player or portable radio, so spending time out there ...in my mind it was like, I got to get something happening! So long story short, just having that involvement within the indigenous community, I wanted to do more with that.”
Now that Raph and the crew at ‘The Spot’ have a successful thriving business that is getting huge, Raph is true to his word and is giving back. He lets us know “a lot of the community work that we do is with the indigenous community but not limited to that. ‘The Spot’ also provide free haircuts to the homeless & haircuts for those that can’t afford it.”
Raph credits his awesome customers who donate to the ‘pay it forward’ program, so anyone that says, “keep the change” contributes to the pay it forward account. He reckons “it’s big ups to our customers, anyone that is having a hard time can come in and get a free haircut & that’s purely by contribution of our customers... it’s good to see people that are still willing to give!”
Raph’s down the track, end game for ‘The Spot’ is to get some funding either through a ‘go fund me’ or applying for a grant from the council to get a Barber Bus and deck it out and take ‘The Spot’ boys back to Leigh Creek.
‘The Spot’ crew have done recent give back to the community gigs with Red Cross & Nunkuwarrin Yunti, which gets ‘The Spot’ crew involved with a lot of the indigenous health days, where they provide free services on those days.
Raph is always thinking of ways to give back... “down the track I want to set up a program not just for us but any barbers that want to give back, to places like Hutt Street Center & boys homes.”
In wrapping up, Raph wanted to leave everyone with this ... “Look out for one another, straight up.... there’s a really good community around here. You’re either well off in the Port or you’re not... & there’s this area where some people don’t really acknowledge one another. It’s the classic rich or poor story. If a lot of people met in the middle, everyone would do alright .... we will get there!!”
Get around ‘The Spot’ crew, drop in & get a fresh cut... & show ‘em some love at https://www.facebook.com/TheSpotBarbersPortAdl/ here you’ll get all the opening hours, address & checkout for yourself all the awesome work they are doing not just in the barber’s chair but also out in our community!!!