Look into Maggard Razors. Another Mom and Pop that has a brick and mortar, although not near you. These are people you can feel good about supporting. Some others are: -Stirling Soap -Soap Commander -Superior Shave I am sure I missed some other great vendors who also do a lot for our little community, but these are all actual Mom and Pop's who are making a living supporting our hobby.
Do the homework - Yellow Pages or internet search for Beauty Supply, pharmacies, & health food stores. Many may carry products, but the individual store locations of chains don't stock a product if it doesn't sell at their location.
Where is this thread headed? Shop around. Support the e-stores or the B&M stores. If there is a particular product you need help finding, ask US, we'll steer you in the right direction.
Why do most people seem to forget our own TSD Shop? 100% of the proceeds go to support our great forum!
Walgreens is just as bad. For instance, of the three local ones, only one carried the Gillette Platinum blades. A different one seems to favor King Of Shaves. The one where I keep my prescriptions phased in and then very quickly phased out (clearance) the generic Mach3 blades from Schick. Same with software; one will carry VdH Deluxe while the others will only carry VdH Luxury.
Having worked for a drugstore chain many years ago, the one thing that I recall, is that the local management would order products that typically sold well. If the activity on an item was next to nil, they would discontinue it. How long they would keep it on their shells before they made the decision, varied.
That was before computers tracked product turns. I've seen Walmart do the "New Product...and it's gone" thing quick, fast, & in a hurry. If you happen to wander into the clearance isle don't expect or assume discount prices. I've seen lots of product with a big ole sticker announcing CLEARANCE, but it's still at their full retail price.
Walmart is the worst when it comes to Clearance- minimal initial markdown and almost no subsequent ones. As a result, you'll see obsolete items which cost more than their replacements (e.g., 1GB flash drive priced higher than 32GB flash drive).
The large tubes of C.O. Bigelow (rebranded Proraso) shave cream sell for $10 each at Bath and Body Works. They often run a buy 2, get 1 free sale. That turns out to be less than $7 a tube. Sometimes you can find a coupon to get the price down to $5 a tube. That's a great deal for fine shave cream. And another vote for the Kiss My Face shave cream often sold at places like Whole Foods Market. You should be able to get a large pump container for less than $10.
I got the 3 for $20 a while back and I gave away my half used tube with a brush and razor to a friend. Proraso is good stuff.
That's all about STARTING at full mark up. If I buy it for $10.00 to put on my shelves, I will price it at $20.00. "Clearance" prices, although less than I priced it at initially, is STILL going to be providing me a profit, since it is higher than the price that I bought it for.
When it comes to real purpose and functionality, don't mistake high end for high priced. Different brands of aftershaves have different additives, etc, for different skin types etc, and liking the scent is subjective of course. But for it's intended purpose, remember that not much actually beats the old name, reasonably priced drug store finds. That's why they're still around. Same with a cream, if that's too your liking. Hundreds of variants, of course, but good old fashioned, reasonbly priced Barbasol has probably produced more ***fine shaves than many high priced, mystery ingrediants newbies. Good luck and happy hunting for supplies! The footwork to look is part of the fun with our hobby!
My favorite shaving cream type thing I was ever able to buy at one of the Big 3 in my area (CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreens) was The Real Shaving Co. Shaving Cream. Rivals ANY of the best as far as performance, but it did not have the fancy scents. Rite Aid carried it for years, but I stopped seeing it a few years ago. It's still around but I don't know of any stores in my area that carry it. Lathering Shave Cream is something that just isn't in demand, I suppose. There are TONS of Non-Lathering creams out there that brave wet shaving souls try their darndest to get to a lather out of, but alas, they are most often defeated by a gooey mess in their brush. If you have the urge to hop in your car and get something cheap that works, there are Bath and Bodyworks everywhere, get a tube of the CO Bigelow or your local health food store or Whole Foods and get some Kiss My Face. I think all the hidden gems have been found.
I'm in France now, which again shows that the question "what local drugstores carry" really depends on which place you call "local". For instance, they have the dreaded Monsavon croap here (I really don't like that stuff).