Recently, in one of my conversations in here, someone commented about a store called "The Art Of Shaving." The comment indicated that the person asking, likely did not care for that business. Personally, I thought their prices too high, and their Staff suspicious. I have tapped into "Shaving Nation" and "West Coast Shaving" for my "stuff." That said, is "The Art of Shaving" a chain? Had anyone had a "bad" experience there? I could see myself perhaps picking up a bar of shaving soap from there now and then, for those "in a pinch" situations. I mean, if you told me that the stuff they sell is all made in a Vietnam sweat shop by small children or something like that, I could understand.
Yes, it is a chain. Yes, they make an excellent product. Yes, a puck of soap is $36, last I checked. Many, self included, would say that is more than we would want to spend "in a pinch." There are many, many other soaps out there that are just as good and can be had at less than half that price. Many of us have had less than positive experiences dealing with their staff, mainly because we are more educated about traditional wet shaving than they are. To be fair, I did run into one lady who knew her stuff and was a pleasure to talk to.
I've purchased two pucks of soap from them, only because I was given AoS gift cards. Great stuff. Still working through them.
The Body Shop Maca Root Cream is better than anything AOS has to offer. Crabtree and Evelynn has some nice smelling soaps too.
I've been in several of their stores here in the Northwest. They do carry quality supplies and had a nice collection of razors. They are expensive. I bought one brush on sale, as it was discontinued and their "Lemon scented" soap - very nice. As for the staff - found they were knowledgeable and friendly. I imagine it varies from store to store.
Around two years ago I was in a department store selling AoS stuff. I was looking around, sniffing the aftershave and cologne testers as well as checking out the soaps and creams when suddenly an attractive salesgirl with an attitude got crabby with me when I politely asked her if she spoke French, and her reply in English was "Not very well." Then she asked me in English "What would you like to see?" in a very haughty tone. I did my best to speak to her in English but as it happens to me often, I had to think for words or perhaps I mispronounced a word or two and she became even more haughty, so finally I switched back into French which I'm so much more at ease with and I think she still remembers the way I blasted her for having such a miserable, unprofessional attitude. I also said to her "You know, I have a half hour or so to waste so why don't I make a complaint about you to your manager who I see is standing over there." lolllllllllll This girl was sweating visibly and TREMBLING. What do you think happened? I told her manager who spoke perfect French "This store is going to go down the drain because your sales staff is not fully bilingual, number one. Number two, this girl is very RUDE and should NOT be in sales or customer service. Number three, I think an apology is in order, wouldn't you agree?" I mean, hello, I don't want my tukhis kissed but at the same time just because they sell AoS stuff doesn't mean they have the right to treat a customer who's spoken English is shaky like trash. The manager nodded her head, smiled at me, apologized profusely to me, then said to the girl in English "May I see you in the office?" I continued looking around and I could hear the manager screaming at the girl even with the door closed. Around fifteen minutes later the girl stormed out of the office and marched out of the store with an angry look on her face. I ended up buying an AoS Sandalwood soap and aftershave for my father-in-law!
I liked Sienna too. The cream was awesome and so was the aftershave. I remember going into the C&E boutique one afternoon, trying on a little Sienna aftershave from the tester bottle and Corinne's aunt came over and kissed me right on my cheek! I then bought a Sienna cream and aftershave!
I can't knock a whole chain of stores for catering to an economic group who may or may not be more interested in their favor of the month hobby. All I can say is that when I went into one and asked the clerk to show me single edge safety razors, he slid the drawer of straight out. No, I said, single edge safety razors, he repled, "well, these are safe if properly used. It takes time to get used to them". My gf and I let it go, moved, picked up and quickly put down a forty dollar shave puck, and began glancing at aftershaves. "This one, this is the one I use personally", we were informed. As he was sporting a six or six thirty five o'clock shadow in the morning, I couldn't resist asking him when was the last time he shaved. He told us that it had been "a cpl of days", and handed me the bottle to smell. I noted that yes, I did think it smelled ok. The thing you need to remember, I was educated, is that for some reason the scent doesn't last very long and I may have to slash some on three or four times a day. Thats another six minutes of my life I'll never get back.
It's a chain, and for some reason Gillette keeps it USA only (I believe). I would rather support independent retailers, like Connaught, Barbiere di Figaro, 't Scheerhuys, and so on.
I've been in their stores a few times. They seem very helpful and very willing to help me get the best shave possible, by trying to sell me the best Cartridge Razor handle they had. Guaranteed a better shave. Plus, the salespeople either had beards, or looked like they weren't old enough to grow enough facial hair to shave. On the plus side, the Croaps were very luxurious, smelled good, but too expensive.
I've had mixed experiences in AOS stores. I bought my first DE there before I was aware of online vendors, but I did not buy any creams, since I was using the Bigelow Proraso clone. The staff is hit and miss - some are knowledgable, others not. I did recently trade for some AOS cream to try and I'm looking forward to it.
That manager sounds like a psychotic nutjob. People who flip out and scream like that are mentally ill. If bi-lingualism was required, that salesperson should never have been hired in the first place. That was the manager's fault. #AvoidLikeThePlague. The sales people and management at the Art of Shaving stores near me were always very courteous. The lone salesperson at one store did not know anything about shaving, and was just repeating the sales pitch she had been trained to deliver. At the another store, both the manager and the two salespeople were enthusiastic wetshavers, and very knowledgeable. Besides the stores Steve C mentioned, I have found these places to be really good: Shoebox Shaveshop Connaught Shaving Italian Barber Smallflower Try A Blade Gifts and Care Maggards Gemstone Trading
I'm not always so diplomatic either and I'm known to be very fiery-tempered. English is not my native language although I'm much more capable in it than two years ago, but I'm a francophone and so is my wife, so we prefer to be served in French. The manager was actually very polite to me but the salesgirl was horrible. I also think she was lying about not speaking French so well because I heard her speaking to another customer without a lot of trouble. She even said to me in English "Why are you getting in my face like that?"
i have purchased from italian barber,canadian blade co,west coast shaving,maggards and fendrihans.canadian blade co has stirling soaps and aftershaves as does fendrihans.the others don t ship aftershaves to canada.all have been great .