Brick and Mortar in Reno, NV or Monterey, CA

I'm on the road again this week and was wonder if there are any shops worth checking out in either Reno or Monterey... maybe Sacramento as I will be driving between Reno and Monterey.

or...

maybe at the outlet stores in Gillroy?

Thanks...

Interested if anyone responds and what they post...........I'll be in Reno and Sac in May............

Good luck and have a safe trip.

Since you will be near Carmel, when you are in Monterey, you should make a point of visiting the Carmel Drug Store on Ocean near San Carlos, in the village. They have been in business for over 100 years. They carry a surprising amount of shave gear, including Geo F. Trumper, razors, etc. Their prices are reasonable, too. Certainly worth a visit for anyone in the area.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT work for them.

At Stripe in downtown Santa Cruz they cary several Musgo products, Cella, Lightfoot's Pine and either Omega or Semogue brushes (I can't remember which). Blackbard thanks for the tip on Carmel Drug!

BlackBard said:

Since you will be near Carmel, when you are in Monterey, you should make a point of visiting the Carmel Drug Store on Ocean near San Carlos, in the village. They have been in business for over 100 years. They carry a surprising amount of shave gear, including Geo F. Trumper, razors, etc. Their prices are reasonable, too. Certainly worth a visit for anyone in the area.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT work for them.

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what the heck..... i have been to carmel a few times and have never been there. im missing out big time.

I just might have to go to the Carmel Drug Store. I was perusing their website and came upon an amazing find... Geo F. Trumper hard soaps in the wooden bowl for $26.95... in Rose, Violet, Almond and Coconut. These same size bowls are $36 at WCS, and at my local store, Excalubur Cutlery, they are $39.95... That's a bargain even with the CA sales tax.

HTO! (Holy Toledo!)

Oh and it's right next to the Navy base that I will be working at!

I was in Monterey for 2 and a half years and didn't realize, but then again that was long before I discovered any of this...

Happy shaving
Dave

Gilroy outlets have a BB+W and Crabtree and Evelyn, but they're just regular stores, no special discounts.
There's a couple perfume outlets, but nothing you won't see in any regular mall.

If you're driving yourself and don't mind detours, take 99 down from Sacramento to Stockton - all those little towns from Auburn to Tracy are loaded with hole-in-the-wall antique stores that usually yield a couple treasures.

Went to the Carmel Drug Store when I got in town this afternoon... HTO! Jackpot! I picked up a Trumpers Rose in wood bowl for $26 and Tabac in glass bowl for $21.95... so with 7.25% tax the total was $51.43... I know the Tabac is cheaper on line but no shipping and low cost of the Trumpers more than makes up for the difference. The same items including shipping would cost me $65.21 from WCS... pretty good deal!

They have more stuff than I will be able to recall and put down in words, but here goes...

Geo F. Trumpers - not all inclulsive, but items from most lines, including Eucris and Spanish Leather cream in a tube. Colognes in all scents. Mach 3 razors

Caswell Massey - 1752 Sandalwood, Eucalyptus and Almond / Greenbriar hard soaps, cream, pre and post shave items as well as Greenbiar and Lucky Tiger aftershaves... and more

St John's - Bay Rum and Limes, several items and sizes

Taylor of Old Bond Street - all the shave creams and many other items

Col. Conk - most all scents as well as branded bowls and mugs

Pinaud - Vegetal and some others

Merkur - Vision, 134 and Red & Black Bakelite models

Kent - Combs... no brushes

Edwin Jagger - brushes, soaps and apothocary mugs and ceramis bowls, leather DE razor travel case

DE Blades - Treet, 7 O'Clock yellow and blue and some others than I can't recall

DE - Razors of unusual brands that I have never seen mentioned here on the BnB...

Some straights that I didn't look to closely at

And Carme Drug Store has a web site...

Friday I will go to Stripe in Santa Cruz, time permiting.

I think I may have to make this into a more generic querry string as I just learned that I will be headed to New Orleans, LA / Gulfport, MS / Meridian, MS week after next and will need to go on the hunt again...

Go West Young Man said:

If you're driving yourself and don't mind detours, take 99 down from Sacramento to Stockton - all those little towns from Auburn to Tracy are loaded with hole-in-the-wall antique stores that usually yield a couple treasures.

Click to expand...

Would have loved to do this if I had more time...

Added Carmel Drug Store to a new wiki page: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/USA_Central_Coast_CA

mblakele said:

Added Carmel Drug Store to a new wiki page: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/USA_Central_Coast_CA

Click to expand...

Well done

Just a quick wrap up to this thread...

The Carmel Drug Store: Three brands I forgot to mention... Tabac, Proraso and Jack Black... Again to comprehensive but most items in all these lines.

Next I made it to Stripe in Santa Cruz yesterday afternoon and... First thing to know is that there is now "Stripe" and two doors away "Stripe Men" that just opened on 3/30/2012, and if you put Stripe into your GPS it will take you to the original store at this time... just look two doors to the right and go to Stripe Men. Then mens store is definitely worth a visit as they have a lot of cool stuff both new and vintage. As to the shaving they have Jack Black, Cella and Musgo Real. The Musgo Real included glycerine bath soaps, shaving soap in a tube, aftershave and few more items. I picked up a tube of Musgo shave soap. Even though the price was not the best deal at $14.00 plust tax, I had kind of a "bird in the hand" moment and I could not resist.

Overall both these stores are worth a visit if you are in the Monterey Bay area.

Also semi-off topic, but I too visited Stripe MEN and your reporting is accurate. What I can add is that having just opened they hope to flesh out the shave offerings to include hardware and software; brushes, razors (straight? DE?) bowls, etc. I actually emailed the owner to find out more--and gently offer my consulting gratis. There is little product on this side of the hill (as opposed to the San Jose side of the hill), and maybe Stripe MEN will fill the void. Cool store fwiw...