I have not yet decided whether to join the Week of Williams, but I thought I would at least buy a puck and try to lather it. When I decided to do this, I thought that the purchase would be easy, but the lather might be more challenging. Now I can only pray to St Catherine of Alexandria - or perhaps to St Florian - that lathering it isn't any harder than finding it was.
The closest store that sells any shaving tackle is a 99 Ranch. This is an ethnic Chinese chain, and while they have some canned goo on their shelves, I was unsurprised to see a total lack of Williams. The next closest store is a CVS, where one employee scratched his head and said that he thought maybe he had heard of Williams somewhere or other. There was none on the shelves, nor at the Safeway next door.
The next stop was a Rite-Aid, somewhat further afield. Their web site claims that they sell Williams, so surely I could find a puck here? No such luck: nothing on the shelves, and no RSC either. I shook the dust of this store from my sandals (actually mud from my boots - it's raining out) and went on my way.
Walgreens doesn't even claim to sell Williams, but I checked anyway. I also checked a small local grocery store called Trang's, without success.
At this point I had given up. Would I have to mail-order Williams? Had it really come to that?
But first I had some other shopping to do so I stopped into another local grocery store called Draegers. It's a bit like Whole Foods, but with less of an emphasis on organic products. I wasn't expecting them to sell shaving products at all, but I needed a fresh piece of parmesan cheese and a few other odds and ends. While I was there, I checked for shaving products anyway, and found about five boxes of Williams ($1.29, plus tax). They also had plenty of Aqua-Velva Blue.
So now my puck is soaking, and soon I will try to lather it.
The closest store that sells any shaving tackle is a 99 Ranch. This is an ethnic Chinese chain, and while they have some canned goo on their shelves, I was unsurprised to see a total lack of Williams. The next closest store is a CVS, where one employee scratched his head and said that he thought maybe he had heard of Williams somewhere or other. There was none on the shelves, nor at the Safeway next door.
The next stop was a Rite-Aid, somewhat further afield. Their web site claims that they sell Williams, so surely I could find a puck here? No such luck: nothing on the shelves, and no RSC either. I shook the dust of this store from my sandals (actually mud from my boots - it's raining out) and went on my way.
Walgreens doesn't even claim to sell Williams, but I checked anyway. I also checked a small local grocery store called Trang's, without success.
At this point I had given up. Would I have to mail-order Williams? Had it really come to that?
But first I had some other shopping to do so I stopped into another local grocery store called Draegers. It's a bit like Whole Foods, but with less of an emphasis on organic products. I wasn't expecting them to sell shaving products at all, but I needed a fresh piece of parmesan cheese and a few other odds and ends. While I was there, I checked for shaving products anyway, and found about five boxes of Williams ($1.29, plus tax). They also had plenty of Aqua-Velva Blue.
So now my puck is soaking, and soon I will try to lather it.
