Online vs. B&M

I would prefer brick-and-mortar, but nothing reasonably close to me...

I would love to have a nicely stocked store near me, like WCS or Pasteur's. But I don't, so I have to make do with online shopping.

Back a few years ago, there were at least 3 wet-shaving suppliers available at a local mall. There was The Body Shop, L'Occitane, and Crabtree & Evelyn. But even when I would browse in there, there wasn't much to see. They had just a shelf or two of men's gear, and it wasn't possible to "talk shop" with the clerks. They just flat-out didnt know what they were talking about and most comments were along the lines of "Oh ... my husband uses that. He loves it." It was fun to look around in those places, but I was usually in and out in under 5 minutes. And except for 2 pucks of L'Occ Cade, my C&E BBB, and several tubs of TBS Original Formula cream, I never bought anything.

Those stores all closed up and moved out within a few months of each other. That was 3 or 4 years ago. All we have left is an AoS kiosk, a Sephora store, a place called LUSH, and the men's sections in various department stores. Nordstroms is the most upscale store around here, but their prices are way out of line. J.C. Penney and Macy's have some nice stuff to sample, but nothing I want to buy.

I guess I will continue to buy online, and dream about one day if I have a lot of free time and a lot of free money, I'll make a trip to Pasteur's.

One thing to remember: Almost all of the online shave shops - not Amazon, but WCS, Maggard's, IB, Stirling, et.al. - are small, mom-and-pop/family businesses. They may not be local, but they deserve your support as they cater to our needs and wants. You can shop online and still support small business.

FoolishMortal said:

One thing to remember: Almost all of the online shave shops - not Amazon, but WCS, Maggard's, IB, Stirling, et.al. - are small, mom-and-pop/family businesses. They may not be local, but they deserve your support as they cater to our needs and wants. You can shop online and still support small business.

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I was about to say the same. Outside of AoS and a couple items here and there, there are no real shaving shops in my area. I visited an Aiden Gill in New Orleans, and while they had a great selection, I felt as though they were sticking it to me on the prices. I buy from Amazon about half the time and I try to pick the products where the seller is more of a small business. The other half of the time I buy from small sellers like Maggard Razors. Of course I would be lying if I said money is no option. A deal is a deal, and if I find one I will buy it.

Don

I have a really cool barbershop not far from my place. Not a huge selection but I support it whenever I can - I love going in there for a 'sniff around' plus I strongly believe in supporting local business.

I always buy hair pomade etc from them also.

I've bought plenty on-line, but I much prefer B&M, especially for software. Its like a treasure hunt, and I've come up with some gems. Here is Washington DC, we have The Grooming Lounge, which is kind of a local version of AOS (we have that too) with a faux old-timey décor that serves the yuppy set. They carry Merkur razors, Proraso, some 3-T Brit stuff, and a lot of designer-label products that I'm not hip enough to use. All overpriced, of course, but I suspect you're paying for the atmosphere when shopping there. Better yet, I've discovered some real hidden treasures - a Mom 'n Pop variety store that carries Omega brushes and soap; an Italian grocery store that carries Proraso creams and balms; several Mexican grocery stores that carry Superior 70, Florida Water, and several different Hispanic colognes; an ethnic beauty shop that carries Pinaud aftershaves, EdC's, and hair tonics, as well as a nice selection of Dax and Murray's pomades; a 100 year old pharmacy downtown that stocks Casswell-Masey products, several Pinaud aftershaves, and some high end stuff like St. John's Bay Rum and Kent combs and brushes. Still on the hunt for more. I found an international food store that stocks Brazilian shaving cream, but they were out of stock when I visited. Anyway, its fun looking around.

I would prefer to shop first hand, problem is that other than drug stores or big box store. There is an extreme limit to what is available locally.

To answer the second half of the OP, I think there is definitely a tie between shopping online and an AD. For me anyway, the main reason I start to get excited about a product/fragrance/concept is because it is being talked about here. It is so easy to jump from B&B directly to any online retailer and fill the need. And, hate to say it, I am always more likely to make a purchase if I've had a beer or two while browsing online - something I'm hopefully not doing while driving by the local B&M that doesn't exist.

You know you're a fan when B&M for Brick and Mortar makes you think Barrister and Mann ...

I mostly do my shopping online. I don't care for AoS and I don't think they're worth it. I live in the DC area and we have a store called the Grooming Lounge which I like. I'm not sure if it's a national chain, but they do sell online as well.

I am in new jersey, anyone know of a shop, store, pharmacy, anything that might have anything? AOS store is close to me but its only a kiosk in the mall and there products are ehhh for the money they are asking... To me anyways

tankerjohn said:

I've bought plenty on-line, but I much prefer B&M, especially for software. Its like a treasure hunt, and I've come up with some gems. Here is Washington DC, we have The Grooming Lounge, which is kind of a local version of AOS (we have that too) with a faux old-timey décor that serves the yuppy set. They carry Merkur razors, Proraso, some 3-T Brit stuff, and a lot of designer-label products that I'm not hip enough to use. All overpriced, of course, but I suspect you're paying for the atmosphere when shopping there. Better yet, I've discovered some real hidden treasures - a Mom 'n Pop variety store that carries Omega brushes and soap; an Italian grocery store that carries Proraso creams and balms; several Mexican grocery stores that carry Superior 70, Florida Water, and several different Hispanic colognes; an ethnic beauty shop that carries Pinaud aftershaves, EdC's, and hair tonics, as well as a nice selection of Dax and Murray's pomades; a 100 year old pharmacy downtown that stocks Casswell-Masey products, several Pinaud aftershaves, and some high end stuff like St. John's Bay Rum and Kent combs and brushes. Still on the hunt for more. I found an international food store that stocks Brazilian shaving cream, but they were out of stock when I visited. Anyway, its fun looking around.

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you sound close to me, if you don't mind asking what area are these stores located?

There's a lot of overhead with a store since you are serving people in a specific region. However, I think if you have a decent online store, you can have a B&M store to compliment it for the exposure.

tankerjohn said:

Better yet, I've discovered some real hidden treasures - a Mom 'n Pop variety store that carries Omega brushes and soap; an Italian grocery store that carries Proraso creams and balms; several Mexican grocery stores that carry Superior 70, Florida Water, and several different Hispanic colognes; an ethnic beauty shop that carries Pinaud aftershaves, EdC's, and hair tonics, as well as a nice selection of Dax and Murray's pomades; a 100 year old pharmacy downtown that stocks Casswell-Masey products, several Pinaud aftershaves, and some high end stuff like St. John's Bay Rum and Kent combs and brushes. Still on the hunt for more. I found an international food store that stocks Brazilian shaving cream, but they were out of stock when I visited. Anyway, its fun looking around.

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This is a great resource. Lots of ethnic grocery stores carry grooming products from back home.

We have an English shop that carries Kent brushes and soaps, but the prices are ridiculous. A Turkish grocery carries Derby blades and ARKO sticks, but here again, the prices are too high.

There used to be a large Brazilian supermarket I would visit a couple times a year, and they had a jackpot of Iberian products. Musgo Real bath soap and Lavanda shaving cream were two items I got from them regularly. They carried lots of Ach Brito soaps I had never heard of.
I even found 2 bottles of AquaVelva Ice Blue in glass, long after everyone else had switched to plastic. One time, I bought a large bottle of Lavanda EdC and the price on the shelf said $10.95, which was cheap enough ... when I took it to the check-out, it rang up at $1.59 !!!
Sadly, when I went back to get more of the same, the store had closed up and gone out of business.

The local supermarket carries Arko sticks and Tabac refill soaps, and charges almost 25% less than my go-to online shaving store.

Otherwise there aren't any local stores that carry this kind of stuff to my knowledge. I'd prefer supporting small locals if there were any worth supporting (or any at all), but since there are none I have to go online.

If I ever need an Arko stick or a Tabac soap I know where to go though

I wish there were more brick and mortar stores in Canada that sold wet shaving supplies. But the majority of Canadian stores are online only. So majority of my shave products are bought online, pomades on the other hand I pickup at the barber shops. They usually have a fairly wide selection and carry local brands and even occasionally carry some what shaving supplies.

I am much more prone to impulse buying when I can put my hands on the stuff (and my nose near). I will put off buying online forever just because of that slight insecurity of not knowing exactly what the product is.

Don't forget that we have a Locations Wiki for shops.

If you have information and that ability to update the Wiki, please do so!

I prefer online for pretty much everything.

I'm with jjking54 I also thought Barrister & Mann