Buying DE Blades in the U.K.

[Brutus]

Last night I returned from my one-month stint in the U.K. and had thought I would be in DE shaver heaven.

The area around Picadilly Circus (Jermyn St.) is indeed a good place to go hunting for straight and DE razors, brushes, shaving soaps or creams and I left quite a bit of my per diems with Taylor of Old Bond St. (actually in 71 Jermyn St.), but my experiences in getting DE blades from the British supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury and even John Lewis department stores were mixed. Interestingly, asking for DE blades in Taylor's, they had only Merkur blades available, while a small pharmacy in the shopping arcade exactly opposite had "Swedish" Gillettes and a nice assortment of brushes too.

All blades I found and have tested so far were good, no doubt, but they were difficult to find. I tried several branches of Tesco, Sainsbury and John Lewis and while I was lucky in late April, in May all of the aforementioned stores I tried were out of stock. Some Sainsbury and Tesco branches didn't even appear to stock DE blades anymore, or had only German Wilkinsons, which I stayed away from. In the John Lewis department store in Oxford St. and in Kingston, where I had been lucky to find Swedish Gillettes twice before, blades were on backorder in May.

The good news was that Boots, the British drugstore company, had their own branded blades consistently available, even in smaller outlets and, as you may know, they are quite good.

All in all, an interesting trip and I would like to have spent more time around Jermyn St. but my suitcase started to get too close to my baggage allowance with all the various tubs of shaving soap.

[suffolksupplies]

Apart from boots & some tesco's, blades are hard to find. 10 -15 years ago some small chemists stocked them but most places either stock Wilkinson's or nothing. Sales seem to have almost totally moved to online retailer's, not that I'm complaining but your would expect more types in london's shaving centre.

Perhaps all the UK members will post where they get their blades.

In store Or Online?

[jbc]

Not trying to slight any English retailers in any way the currency exchange rate is currently in the American favor, thus I would personally recommend that you buy from an american store and get them shipped to you in the UK. Per xe.com, the USD-GBP exchange rate is approximatly 1.974. Thus unless you pay double the cost of the total order in shipping I would recommend that you buy from an American internet store.

Here is a list of links on the american side of the pond that can help:

barberdepots.com/shaving
tedpella.com/dissect_html/dissect.htm
purepadirect.com
cottonblossomcrafts.com/shave_page_9.htm
canemco.com/catalog/specprep/razor_blades.htm
classichaving.com/page/page/522941.htm
emsdiasum.com/microscopy/products/preparation/blades.aspx
leesrazors.com/razorblades.htm
emsplace.com
dr-instruments.stores.yahoo.net/doedrabl.html
razorandbrush.com/barberiablade.html
tias.com/malls/lam
bowmanbeauty.com
solnshave.com/product_list.asp
ebarbershop.com/ShopSite/gillette.html