open my own shave shop

[jpq5]

I really like how many websites there are that are dedicated to selling us all the high end shaving supplies. That being said, I wish there were somewhere local I could just stroll into and browse in person. I'm a bit hesitant to buy a soap, cream, or aftershave without at least a sampling of the smell.
The closest thing to me is an Art of Shaving. Which is OK, but they sell only their brand, and this business as we all know is built on variety.
I wish I had the startup for a business like this. I think someone could do pretty well with a shave shop, and I also think it would draw a lot of men in on sheer curiosity. Lets be honest, men's grooming is at an time high. Let me know what you guys think.

Jake

[95%]

I wish there were a brick-and-mortar store like that near me. It would carry a fair selection of the products we talk about here, products that aren't found in drugstores, big-box stores, or even upscale department stores. I believe there are only a handful of such places, however, in all of North America - Colonial Drug, Cambridge Chemists, Pasteur's, and a few others which Gordon et al. could name.

Such a store would need to be in a high-rent location in a large prosperous city, I think, in order to be profitable. Your average Joe (or his wife) isn't going to pay $20 for a tub of shaving cream, $70 for a cologne, or $100 for a superbadger brush. It may not be easy to obtain retail rights for many of the products. But I think it's a great idea and one worth looking into.

[brothers]

There are two or three brick and morter shops here, and they have drawbacks. First, certainly because there is a substantial investment to be tied up due to inventory, we see Caswell Massey, Merkur, and Col. Conk soap primarily. Nothing wrong with that, if you happen to like just those products.

Examples of the successful b&m shops would seem to be Pasteur's in NYC and Cambridge in ? (Boston, maybe?) High traffic in a big city, where those in the know can go get what they want when they want it.

Thanks to the forums, I've got a Chrome Futur and a 12c Barberpole and didn't pay anywhere near retail plus sales tax for them. Second, the folks working there don't seem to understand what's going on. They're enthusiastic and pleasant, but they're selling, not really knowing what to say.

I don't see myself making an impulse buy of a pot of Caswell Massey Greenbriar or a Merkur razor. One of them had a nice display of Provence Sante Body Wash, but no shaving products! They almost universally have mounds of Jack Black products, and want to talk endlessly about how marvelous that stuff is.

The most interesting shop is an ancient old barber shop supply that's been in place for at least 50 years. They've got some new and used straight razors, some Dorco blades, some new brushes, Omega for example, several shelves with Pinaud products, Lucky Tiger Molle, Illinois razor strops, and lots of hair products and shoe shine products, due to the fact that they do supply most of the local barber shops, etc.

Another one that I used to frequent was good because they were aware of the wet shaving websites, and they carry a few examples of Musgo Real products, Truefitt and Hill, Crabtree and Evelyn, Floris, and L'Occitane. I was about to go buy some of the very expensive Floris products, when we became aware that the reformulated products were no good for shaving (this was about a year ago). It's a women's fragrance store primarily, and the men's products were not what I'd call really fast moving. They did order a pot of T&H Rose for me, and I bought myself 2 tubes of Musgo Real SC.

If somebody with deep pockets could set up little displays in multiple locations in high traffic locations with someone on duty to explain to the casual passersby why it's better to use these products than the cartridges, it might work, but overcoming the fact that very few guys actually care is going to be really hard.

That's a lot of yakking just to say that maybe we can take a bit of guidance from AOS because their image is rather high profile, but certainly higher prices also. If I happened onto an AOS store, I'd probably come out with a tube of the Rose shaving cream if it didn't carry too high a premium compared to ebay or etc.

[marsos52]

i too would love to see a store of this kind that would be close by to me..

but on the other side of reality ...its a hard nut to crack..and if the store didnt have a wide range of products it would be useless...

i think the store in order to survive would also need to sell other items other than shaving goods.. ex. leather goods ,,,maybe some sort of clothing or cigars and pipes etc etc

something to make people come thru the door..

one thing about the website stores is they carry a pretty wide selection
and generally carry the whole line from a company

and many times a small store cant do that...

so thank the internet for something

marc

[aircraft_electrician]

There is a small store nearby that stocks a small amount of Casswell-Massey and C & E stuff, but their inventory is extremely limited, so much so that it's almost not worth the 35 minute drive to get there. They don't even sell C & E brushes. The local Meijer big-box store and the local organic grocer carries some KMF creams and Pre de Provence soap. That's it, and local to me is a 35 minute drive into Champaign/Urbana.

I would love to see a store that specializes in high end men's products, but I realize there would not be a large enough following in this area for them to be profitable.

I can't even buy AOS products locally!

Indianapolis is only an hour and a half away, and I'd be willing to make the drive to find some quality products if I knew where to shop, but I'm not even sure Indianapolis has such a store.

Tom

[95%]

Marc and Tom are exactly right. Inventory is key. Most brick-and-mortar stores are going to stock only a handful of products. By contrast, London's Bathecary claims to have over 3,000. Chris (Thalay Sagar) once mentioned visiting their showroom in Charlottesville, Virgina and opening pots of shave cream, but he didn't say whether the entire inventory is available for examination. Probably it's not. But wouldn't that be seventh heaven?

[Pureslab]

I think a dedicated wet shaving store would be great , but as mentioned unless it is in a very high traffic area in a big enough city or shopping mall it would just end up a real exercise in futility.



The few stores in NYC city are busy working pharmacies and would think wet shaving goods account for a tiny portion of their daily sales - still nice to visit them and check out the items.

I used to live right around the corner from Pasteurs and it turns out the folks who own and run it know my family so there is a very good chance you may see some iKons razors for sale in their store soon.

[M6Classic]

You are all very welcome to come visit Cambridge...Our Fair City...Massachusetts (with apologies to Tom & Ray). Colonial Drug is our little shop around the corner which just happens to have a window full of Plisson brushes, shelves packed with with soaps & creams & balms & ointments, and cases with razors, blades & all manner of grooming essentials. Perfume and toiletries galore and, yes, they will fill your prescriptions at the rear counter, too.

Buzz

[casecracker]

Jake - I was actually thinking about doing this as well in San Francisco. It's hard to believe, but there are no such shops with decently priced soaps, shave creams, etc.

Okay gents, let's say such a store was going to be open - let's do a survey on it:

1. What are the absolute necessity line of quality products it would carry?


2. Should it be a dedicated shaving store, or should it be more of an all-around "Gentleman's" type store? If so, what other product should it carry?


3. Would it be beneficial to offer starter kits of wet shaving, and if so, what would be some good combinations of different products for a newb?


4. Would it be best for the store to also have on-line purchasing, ordering, etc.?


5. Anything else you would look for in such a store?

[95%]

You are all very welcome to come visit Cambridge...Our Fair City...Massachusetts (with apologies to Tom & Ray). Colonial Drug is our little shop around the corner which just happens to have a window full of Plisson brushes, shelves packed with with soaps & creams & balms & ointments, and cases with razors, blades & all manner of grooming essentials. Perfume and toiletries galore and, yes, they will fill your prescriptions at the rear counter, too.

Buzz

Buzz, if you have a chance on your next visit, ask who writes the bad poetry at their website, and hit him/her over the head with your walking stick:

http://www.colonialdrug.com/

[notthesharpest]

Jake - I was actually thinking about doing this as well in San Francisco. It's hard to believe, but there are no such shops with decently priced soaps, shave creams, etc.

Okay gents, let's say such a store was going to be open - let's do a survey on it:

1. What are the absolute necessity line of quality products it would carry?

This is the problem right here. The absolute necessity is VARIETY of products, DIFFERENT brands. I mean, the essentials is what drugstores already have. The essentials is, well, not irrelevant, but very lacking.

2. Should it be a dedicated shaving store, or should it be more of an all-around "Gentleman's" type store? If so, what other product should it carry?

It should carry things that the owners/staff/whoever are expert in. It should not carry things they aren't passionate & knowledgeable about.

3. Would it be beneficial to offer starter kits of wet shaving, and if so, what would be some good combinations of different products for a newb?

Starter kits can be great. Brand-specific starter kits such as already available from various brands are usually a poor idea though, as those just try to pack in as many labels from their brand as possible without regard for usefulness.

4. Would it be best for the store to also have on-line purchasing, ordering, etc.?

If it's meant to be a B & M store, then on-line would be (theoretically) optional. Would it make more money that way, or would it just be a distraction?

5. Anything else you would look for in such a store?

Staff who shave with products from the store.

[marsos52]

with some more thought on the subject

even though the web stores carry many lines of products

i still have to use 3 sites

one for blades and MWF
another for brushes
and another for trumpers

razors i can get from either site

marc

[gil3591]

i think the internet reduces the success of a b&m. if it wasn't for the internet then you would see these shops in towns other than the super urban areas.

i believe that most of our vendors who also happen to have a store front do the bulk on their business on the internet. so i would say, start an internet business first and then go to a b&m. the profits from the internet sales will help cover the loss from the b&m

[M6Classic]

You are all very welcome to come visit Cambridge...Our Fair City...Massachusetts (with apologies to Tom & Ray). Colonial Drug is our little shop around the corner which just happens to have a window full of Plisson brushes, shelves packed with with soaps & creams & balms & ointments, and cases with razors, blades & all manner of grooming essentials. Perfume and toiletries galore and, yes, they will fill your prescriptions at the rear counter, too.

Buzz

Buzz, if you have a chance on your next visit, ask who writes the bad poetry at their website, and hit him/her over the head with your walking stick:

http://www.colonialdrug.com/

No way! My wife and I run a tab at the shop and I sure don't want our note called or our credit cut off! I can live with bad poetry.

Buzz

[95%]

I get it, Buzz. I think Cathy is the poet. She wrote me once, offering cologne samples for my "nasal appraisal."

[brothers]

i believe that most of our vendors who also happen to have a store front do the bulk on their business on the internet. so i would say, start an internet business first and then go to a b&m. the profits from the internet sales will help cover the loss from the b&m

Gil, this seems very wise advice. Makes perfect sense.

[M6Classic]

<snip>

i believe that most of our vendors who also happen to have a store front do the bulk on their business on the internet. so i would say, start an internet business first and then go to a b&m. the profits from the internet sales will help cover the loss from the b&m

One might hesitate to generalize. Certainly, Colonial Drug does no internet commerce, though plenty of telephone retail. I would be interested to hear directly from our purveyors in St James's and Mayfair as to their proportion of e-trade, though I do not expect them to be forthcoming on the matter.

Buzz

[cjc15153]

We have so many internet vendors on this forum, I'd love to hear about their attempts to go B&M or decision not to.

I think of myself as a common type of wet shaver, so I'll explain why I am a bad customer.

2. Should it be a dedicated shaving store, or should it be more of an all-around "Gentleman's" type store? If so, what other product should it carry?

I think a "Gentleman's" type store for the sake of viability. Somehow these always wind up as knives, flasks and tobacco establishments. I don't know if they carry shave goods because I find the "pitch" of these stores repellent (manlyness via consumption.)

I believe most of the sophisticated consumers (like us) already know about the good products and will buy online too often to cater to us exclusively. Selling high end consumables to unsophisticated consumer B&M requires a certain atmosphere to reassure the that they are really getting the best: that other (more knowledgeable) shoppers would demand the best.

3. Would it be beneficial to offer starter kits of wet shaving, and if so, what would be some good combinations of different products for a newb?

If you treat it as a "set" rather than a "kit" I think it would be more appealing. Buying a kit means walking into a store where wet-shaving is put forth as the ne plus ultra of manly refinement and saying "I know nothing and have no skill." Buying a set provides cover.

5. Anything else you would look for in such a store?

You really have to thread a needle to appeal to people like me. I want convenience and selection, but I don't want to be reminded of my shortcomings of finance or skill or dedication to the task.

I made a hobby out of shaving because I am interested in things that require skill and attentiveness. I like to make my own beer and roast my own coffee. When money and time permited I made furniture (of quality too poor to force anyone else to house).

All of these avenues of production involve semiconspicuous consumption via hours spent learning an otherwise worthless skill and maybe acquiring lots of expensive gear.

Whatever you stock will remind me of things I can't afford or things (ie: straights) I'm afraid to use and I will feel silly coveting extravagances to help me through a daily necessity.


I've imperfectly exposed the depths of my business ignorance, but this post is too long already.

[jpq5]

Yeah I completely agree with all of you. It would have to be more of a gentleman's shop with enough mainstream everyday items to draw customers. And I would definatley have online ordering, businesses can't afford not to.

[gil3591]

you'll need to offer the modern razors and blades too. then you move the customers towards the .20 blades. but i think from a business point of view the cheaper product would run you out of business. if i had a store that sold 4 gillettes for $10.00 i don't think i would push the 5 derby's for $1.25. doesn't make sense, does it? and then soaps/creams....customers buy one puck every 6 months? i don't think you could compete with internet pricing in a b&m either. look at the price that the drug stores sell the de personnas. almost as much as mach 3's. you can't have a low profit margin and pay rent. it's all calculated by the big boys,,a square foot of rented floor space needs to turn as much profit as it can. if a square foot of space makes $1.00 of profit a day selling de's and another makes $1.10 selling mach 3's, the de's will be discontinued