Walked through the “man cave” areas of St James & Jermyn Streets of London recently and visited three very well known shave shops: Truefitt & Hill, Taylor of Old Bond St and DR Harris. If you are ever in London it is well worth the jaunt over to this area to peruse the plethora of men’s shops, everything from (obviously) shaving and grooming to custom made shirts, suits and shoes to luxury watches (huge selections of vintage Rolex models for some reason)... definitely for those with $$$. Nice to look at.
The three shave shops are full of their respective products but are very different in presentation.
T&H is almost claustrophobic in the product area with two counters across the small room, each staffed by a salesperson. Found it hard to look around with a few other customers in the way : ). Prices were not clearly visible to me. IMO T&H has the best shave creams but was not conducive to checking out the products. T&H clearly is prioritizing the salon area of the shop with an inner waiting room furnished with wingback chairs and a third (salon) room for hair cutting and wet shaving. A quick look in showed a full house of barbers (3 or 4) busy with customers. This is a professional operation. I had a wet shave there a few years ago and had a very relaxing pleasant experience. (Not so this year ...but not at T&H...read on).
DR Harris - has a couple of shops in the area and I must have been in one of the more recently renovated stores with plenty of real estate and nicely spaced and laid out products, clearly marked with easy to reach samples. Although I liked looking around it did not have an old-school charm that I had expected. I believe they have a salon on the second floor that I did not visit. One salesman in the shop who was eager to help.
TOBS- this was my favorite shop (for the products). Old school charm, very friendly, professionally dressed and helpful floor staff (four), plenty of well marked products and samples. Even a sale item or two. Although the store is “tight”, products were very available to be handled.
Behind the product sales room was a salon. I noticed it was not busy ( I soon learned why) and inquired about the price of a wetshave. The young lady behind the counter pointed to a price list on the wall. OK I thought, not the best response but with T&H all booked, what the heck. Well, I should have walked out. The shave was meh at best, the barber seemingly not into it, the atmosphere annoying with the other salon employees laughing over iphones.
Next time I’ll limit my TOBS visit to the showroom and schedule ahead for the shave at T&H.
That said, it is cool to walk through the area, see the sites and take in all of the history.
The three shave shops are full of their respective products but are very different in presentation.
T&H is almost claustrophobic in the product area with two counters across the small room, each staffed by a salesperson. Found it hard to look around with a few other customers in the way : ). Prices were not clearly visible to me. IMO T&H has the best shave creams but was not conducive to checking out the products. T&H clearly is prioritizing the salon area of the shop with an inner waiting room furnished with wingback chairs and a third (salon) room for hair cutting and wet shaving. A quick look in showed a full house of barbers (3 or 4) busy with customers. This is a professional operation. I had a wet shave there a few years ago and had a very relaxing pleasant experience. (Not so this year ...but not at T&H...read on).
DR Harris - has a couple of shops in the area and I must have been in one of the more recently renovated stores with plenty of real estate and nicely spaced and laid out products, clearly marked with easy to reach samples. Although I liked looking around it did not have an old-school charm that I had expected. I believe they have a salon on the second floor that I did not visit. One salesman in the shop who was eager to help.
TOBS- this was my favorite shop (for the products). Old school charm, very friendly, professionally dressed and helpful floor staff (four), plenty of well marked products and samples. Even a sale item or two. Although the store is “tight”, products were very available to be handled.
Behind the product sales room was a salon. I noticed it was not busy ( I soon learned why) and inquired about the price of a wetshave. The young lady behind the counter pointed to a price list on the wall. OK I thought, not the best response but with T&H all booked, what the heck. Well, I should have walked out. The shave was meh at best, the barber seemingly not into it, the atmosphere annoying with the other salon employees laughing over iphones.
Next time I’ll limit my TOBS visit to the showroom and schedule ahead for the shave at T&H.
That said, it is cool to walk through the area, see the sites and take in all of the history.
