Thread: local ottawa shave(and other) shop

just last wednesday menessentials.com or .ca depending on where you live, opened up a store-front in Ottawa, CA in Westboro!

I just visited tonight and spoke with the owner and searched his wares in person. It's a fantastic feeling to have a place where you can touch and smell things before buying! He has a fair amount of DE razors and has been in talks with CS to carry feather blades and potentially other things. It's nice not having to pay for shipping and worry about duties!

He had a col conk with a best quality blade as the only straight in the store I picked up for 50$ (or will since the coffin was missing since it just opened). He can special order as well for those of you wishing to buy from a Canadian retailer. I just want everyone in Ottawa to be aware of this store and other options and how great it is to have a shaving store to visit in person!

Thanks Duntz! This is great news! I've been looking for a local retailer, and this may just fit the bill!

Thanks again,

Mark

Just an update now on their straight supply. They didn't think there was a market for straights at first and the one i bought was only for display, but in the last week they've had enough demand so that they will now carry a range of dovo/col conk straights Thanks for everyone who provided the demand to stock them!

erik

I popped in there last week and they were still waffling on what to carry...I'm still a little weary mind you since their prices look pretty steep... All of their Merkur DE stuff was more expensive than CS, even after you factor in shipping and border charges.

Mark

I was talking to the owner about that and as it stands there's not much he can do. It was better before the USD dropped like a stone, they have had an online business for 7 years now and back then was when the CAD was 0.67$ to the greenback.

As much as I like saving money I also enjoy just getting something in person and not having to wait! Although there is something special about getting packages in the mail as long as they don't have 40$ charges!

erik

Sounds pretty neat. I'm going to head over there tomorrow. What's the address, exactly?

Edit: Actually, I just checked out the website and found it. Looking at the picture of the store there, it kind of looks like a bit of a Mickey Mouse operation they're running. Those are rows of Ikea-brand bookshelves they're using as display cases. Blegh. Add to that a couple of house plants and a half dozen gallons of "convict orange" paint and you've got yourself a store, evidentally. Meh. I'll still stop in and check it out. I might find a couple of little items that are worth purchasing. But I'm a little gun-shy about what those of you have said about the inflated prices in this thread. Businesses are apparently going to be phasing in lower prices with the strengthening Canadian dollar, but it's going to take quite a bit of time before it happens, unfortunately.

In Quebec and maybe in Ontario wa have a knife shop called monsieur rasoir (maybe mr rasor in english).

They have electric razor, safety razor, kitchen article and one or two model of straight razor.

Normaly these razor was Henke or col conk.

there is also centre du rasoir (or personal edge in english) that typically carries the new Henckle 5/8 fridour and a dovo best quality...prices are inflated since the dovo sells for 120$ and the henckle around 185$. Although the brushes there are reasonably priced for the pure badger.

erik