I want to buy a DE razor to try. Rather than just ordering random things, I thought I would do something different: hit up the old bricks and mortar.
I live in Lancaster County (Amish Country). Amish would be perfect for badger and blade shaving except...they don't shave once they are married... So I had to travel a bit. Using the wiki here I found that the King of Prussia Mall had a LOT of places that had shaving gear (supposedly).
Here's what I found:
The Body Shop: Had one cream that you use a tiny bit of. I like lathering up soap in a bowl. Nothing else available. Didn't seem like something I would like.
Kiehls: I'd never heard of this place before, but they had their own line of shaving products. No soaps, and no razors. Lots of creams, after shaves etc. I really wanted a razor, not a bunch of consumables, so I moved on.
L'Occitane: No razors, but a decent selection of products including a travel brush. Had a nice soap for $12 or so. Almost bought the soap, but passed to see what else was in the mall. I will probably buy this soap next time I hit up KOP mall.
Molton Brown: Listed here, appears to no longer be at the KOP mall. Hit their website (Molton Brown) and a store is not listed. Also no product at Neiman Marcus.
Neiman Marcus: they had a few items by Acqua di Parma but no soap, brushes or razors. There was a Creed section, but the rep said they "don't have" the soap anymore. I didn't visit the Kiehls area because I'd been to the store. They had a subset of the Art of Shaving branded products. Had a lot of promise, but I came up empty.
Nordstrom: A similar Art of Shaving selection as Neiman Marcus. They had a peppermint soap by Jack Black and a nice collection of creams etc. Nothing I was looking for. I did not see the Anthony Logistics products listed in the wiki.
Art of Shaving: Very cool such a store exists, but wow it's expensive. $30 for a single cake of soap, a cool brush for $250 and only 2 DE razors. Gillette blades and Merkur blades. That's it. I was pretty disappointed by this store, to be honest. Lots of nice handles for Fusion cartridges.
I made a serious effort to buy a razor in person and completely struck out. Disappointed but not totally surprised. The cartridge razor has completely taken over the bricks and mortar market. Only one store had razors, and a pitiful selection. Lots of fancy handles for fusions though and some cool straight razors.
I was most disappointed by AoS. They could have twice as much product in that space, but they really only carry their own stuff. A lost opportunity, IMHO.
If anyone has a suggestion of a great store within a few hours of Lancaster, I would totally drive to check it out. I can buy online, but this feels like the type of thing I should check out in person.
Joel
I live in Lancaster County (Amish Country). Amish would be perfect for badger and blade shaving except...they don't shave once they are married... So I had to travel a bit. Using the wiki here I found that the King of Prussia Mall had a LOT of places that had shaving gear (supposedly).
Here's what I found:
The Body Shop: Had one cream that you use a tiny bit of. I like lathering up soap in a bowl. Nothing else available. Didn't seem like something I would like.
Kiehls: I'd never heard of this place before, but they had their own line of shaving products. No soaps, and no razors. Lots of creams, after shaves etc. I really wanted a razor, not a bunch of consumables, so I moved on.
L'Occitane: No razors, but a decent selection of products including a travel brush. Had a nice soap for $12 or so. Almost bought the soap, but passed to see what else was in the mall. I will probably buy this soap next time I hit up KOP mall.
Molton Brown: Listed here, appears to no longer be at the KOP mall. Hit their website (Molton Brown) and a store is not listed. Also no product at Neiman Marcus.
Neiman Marcus: they had a few items by Acqua di Parma but no soap, brushes or razors. There was a Creed section, but the rep said they "don't have" the soap anymore. I didn't visit the Kiehls area because I'd been to the store. They had a subset of the Art of Shaving branded products. Had a lot of promise, but I came up empty.
Nordstrom: A similar Art of Shaving selection as Neiman Marcus. They had a peppermint soap by Jack Black and a nice collection of creams etc. Nothing I was looking for. I did not see the Anthony Logistics products listed in the wiki.
Art of Shaving: Very cool such a store exists, but wow it's expensive. $30 for a single cake of soap, a cool brush for $250 and only 2 DE razors. Gillette blades and Merkur blades. That's it. I was pretty disappointed by this store, to be honest. Lots of nice handles for Fusion cartridges.
I made a serious effort to buy a razor in person and completely struck out. Disappointed but not totally surprised. The cartridge razor has completely taken over the bricks and mortar market. Only one store had razors, and a pitiful selection. Lots of fancy handles for fusions though and some cool straight razors.
I was most disappointed by AoS. They could have twice as much product in that space, but they really only carry their own stuff. A lost opportunity, IMHO.
If anyone has a suggestion of a great store within a few hours of Lancaster, I would totally drive to check it out. I can buy online, but this feels like the type of thing I should check out in person.
Joel
