I read somewhere very recently that P&G is thinking of closing most of their AOS stores. I was wondering what is everyone’s opinion on this? Me personally, I feel that they were rather overpriced and a little overrated. Just my personal opinion.
In a mall environment, you need to move a lot of product, or charge high prices for the product to cover the high costs of renting your storefront space. People are not entirely stupid. It's easy enough to find cheaper equivalent products from the comfort of home thanks to the miracle of the internet. With Amazon prime, near instant gratification too... They could have driven innovation. They had the money to make lots of high end razors, and the retail space to push them. They could have undercut the Above the Tie, Timeless, and Bullgooses of the world. They could have diversified, and carried more brands other than AoS and P&G subsidiaries. I'm only surprised it's taken this long. It will be interesting to see if P&G leverages their power in the supermarkets to gain shelf space for AoS products, perhaps at a lower price point. That would be the win-win situation in all this.
Even grocery stores are starting to go the way of online shopping with fast delivery. I read an article recently that talked about the demise of the big stores like Sears, and the closing down of shopping malls. All due to the internet and online shopping. Clayton Sent from my SM-A705U using Tapatalk
Their products are average at best, tremendously over rated and their prices are super high! I am surprised it took this long!
I first went into one when I started this endeavor, looked around and thought Oh Wow! Then I got to looking at the prices and thought ... oh wow.... Bought one thing there in 2 years. Lasted longer than I thought they would. tp
That’s how I feel. For the price of one AOS shave cream; you could get 2 maybe 3 TOBS shave creams and be certain of the top notch quality of the latter product.
That's a bit hostile. Love them or hate them, in the early days they did more to introduce wet shavers to wet shaving than all these shaving forums combined.
Exactly, I remember when all you could find even at the mall was Col. Conk, or Barber Shop Luxury shaving products. Not exactly the best stuff. Clayton Sent from my SM-A705U using Tapatalk
I have never been a fan of AoS. There. I just deleted a big long rant that nobody needs to read, before I could hit "Post Reply" on it. But I won't miss them and I think they harmed the community almost as much as they helped it.
As much as I dislike AOS prices, they do attract some new shavers to our style of shaving. I will say, the overpriced shave creams are top notch. I was in an AOS store, a couple of months ago, and the two guys working there were sporting beards, about 1 foot long. I dont get that style of marketing, for a shaving store.
The biggest problem with AoS was their prices. Their product (except for brushes) was good, just priced at 300% of what it should have been.
I just checked on our New Orleans AoS which was down on Canal Street. I don't get down to the FQ or CBD much these days. I just checked online and Yelp says they are closed. So NOW who am I gonna poke fun at? LOL.
A couple of my favorite products I used to get at Walgreens etc: Clubman, and VDH Deluxe. I never liked the Luxury but I found the Deluxe lathered beautifully, nice and slick, and it was cheap. And melted nicely in about 25 seconds in the microwave. Now they don't have either one. I don't think VDH even makes the same soap anymore, anyway. Malls, big boxes, and chain drugstores are pretty much shaving wastelands these days. Oh, but we have Cremo! LOL I hate that stuff. I have seen Proraso on occasion at Burlington, and sometimes Bath & Body Works will surprise me with something when GF drags me in there.
How is making millions of people aware that traditional shaving is an option harmful? Before AoS, most members of the general public had no idea traditional shaving was even an option. Sure, their products are way overpriced, but they are also among the very best available. Once people have their eyes opened, most will look online to see what else is out there. If you are looking for entities that have harmed the wetshaving community as much as they have helped it, I can think of a couple of shaving forums that are far better candidates than AoS. It is no surprise that Art of Shaving is closing most of its stores. They have long been mall-centric, and shopping malls are quickly disappearing.
