Joy to the Nail Sector

December 12, 2007

There’s great joy in Farmington Hills, MI, these days—and it’s not just because of the holiday season. Larry Gaynor, president and CEO of The Industry Source (theindustrysource.com) and its parent company, The Nailco Group (thenailcogroup.com), has formed a new business partnership with OPI Products (opi.com).

Effective Jan. 2, the full OPI line of professional nailcare products will be available by phone through the thebeautybook catalog, theindustrysource.com and in The Industry Source’s 23 professional-only beauty stores throughout Michigan and Ohio.

This is really big news in the nail sector of the professional beauty industry, and is one more major accomplishment for The Nailco Group in what has turned out to be a fantastic 2007. “OPI is a leader and an innovator in the industry,” says Gaynor, “and this is an amazing gift for The Industry Source and all our nail and spa clients.”

OPI president and CEO George Schaeffer himself spoke to The Industry Source employees on Nov. 17 about his company and its many products, first appearing as Santa Claus and later presenting Gaynor with a clock bearing the inscription “It’s OPI Time!” It certainly is. A full product listing is now available in the spring 2008 edition of thebeautybook.

Let me know your thoughts at mbirenbaum@creativeage.com.

See you next Wednesday,
Marc

Reaching the Summit

December 5, 2007

I really like what the Professional Beauty Association (probeauty.org), the salon industry’s Scottsdale, AZ-based trade association, is up to these days. And with new, strong member leadership for 2008—Lee Rizzuto Jr. of Conair Corp. (conairpro.com) as chair of the Governing Council, NeCole Cumberlander of The Ohio Academy—Paul Mitchell Partner School (theohioacademy.com) as president of the Salon/Spa Leadership Council, Sydney Berry of Salon Services & Supplies (salonservicesnw.com) as president of the Distributor Council, and Bruce Selan of Zotos International (zotos.com) as president of the Manufacturer Council president (and as a newly elected board director of North American Beauty Events, the organization that manages Cosmoprof North America (cosmoprofnorthamerica.com), PBA’s future is bright.

The association is producing a new sales education event, the Distribution & Sales Summit, on Jan. 12-13 at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate in Orlando, FL. It will be partially co-located with TSA Symposium 12 (probeauty.org/symposium) for salon and spa owners, which continues through Jan. 15.

The summit is for professional beauty product distributor owners/principals and managers and sales consultants, as well as direct-selling manufacturers. Salon Services & Supplies, Creative Salon Concepts (creativesalonconcepts.com), Goldwell of New York (goldwellny.com), Neill Corp. (neill.net), Peninsula Beauty Supply (peninsulabeauty.com) and Raylon Corp. (raylon.com) have already committed to being there. Free tuition is available from the PBA by selling TSA Symposium tickets to salon and spa customers.

There are summit-only speaker and roundtable sessions on Jan. 12 and joint summit-symposium speaker sessions on Jan. 13, as well as numerous networking opportunities. Check out the summit invite and visit probeauty.org/summit for more details. You can register online or by calling 800/394-5436. If you’re a professional beauty product distributor, this is an event you don’t want to miss.

Let me know your thoughts at mbirenbaum@creativeage.com.

See you next Wednesday,
Marc

Going Shopping

November 28th, 2007

As we reported on Nov. 15 when our redesigned website launched, Robanda International (robanda.com) has bought nail file manufacturer Realys (tropicalshine.com). This is a great-fit acquisition for Robanda, and boosts its ranking on my short list of “Suppliers Beauty Store Owners Should Watch” even higher.

Robanda president David Leib notes in our story (see News) that his company will run Realys as an independent company, growing the Tropical Shine brand and the private-labeling business. Based on Robanda’s last deal—acquiring in January Bodyography Professional Cosmetics (bodyography.com)—and its phenomenal success since (including a new mineral makeup line), I have no doubt that his company will grow Realys.

In fact, Realys is now promoting its redesigned website and a new Happy Valentine’s Day Pedicure Pack (a 7-inch Mylar foot file, a 5½-inch 3-Way Buffer and toe separators). Contact your local distributor or call 888/473-2597 for more details.

In addition to Tropical Shine and Bodyography products, Robanda offers Jingles Professional hair care and hair color (jinglesinternational.com), Robanda antiaging skin care, the Mr. Pumice line (mrpumice.com), and brands such as Batiste Dry Shampoo and Fade Out skin care. And the company understands the beauty store sector, including the value of introductory deals and displays.

It’s hard to believe that Robanda actually started with only four SKUs. Watch for David, his brother Anthony Leib, Robanda’s vice president of sales, and their cousin Shawn Russell, the company’s international sales manager, to go shopping again. These guys aren’t done yet with what they want Robanda to be.

Let me know your thoughts at mbirenbaum@creativeage.com

See you next Wednesday,

Marc

November 21st, 2007

American Dawn (americandawn.com) is a one-stop sundries shop for many professional beauty products distributors in the United States. After visiting the company’s corporate headquarters in Compton, California, on Nov. 2, I certainly understand why.

American Dawn is a large, sophisticated distributor, importer and manufacturer of textile products with a beauty division that offers hundreds of SKUs—not just salon shampoo towels in a wide range of colors but also entrance mats as well as barber, spa and tanning products.

Ron Kothari, the division’s longtime director of sales and marketing, knows the pro beauty industry—and what’s important to his distributor customers—very well. We’ll be interviewing Ron for American Dawn’s first-ever View From The Top, which will appear in our March issue.

In the meantime, if you need a source for 100% cotton, color-safe towels, customized welcome mats, vintage barber jackets, spa blankets, bathrobes or other sundry items, contact him at salonproducts@americandawn.com, 800/627-5839, fax 310/609-3241. I’m sure he’d love to hear from you.

Let me know your thoughts at mbirenbaum@creativeage.com

See you next Wednesday,
Marc

November 14th, 2007

Are you ready for this year’s holiday retail sales season?

Typically, one-fifth of the retail industry’s sales occur during November and December, making it the most important time of the year for many retailers—including numerous beauty stores.

We report on the National Retail Federation’s first holiday survey of consumers’ intentions and actions (see News), and the NRF is predicting that 2007 holiday season sales will rise 4% over last year. Ouch! That’s below the 10-year average of 4.8% and would represent the slowest holiday sales growth since 2002, a 1.3% jump. (Last year, the world’s largest retail trade association projected a 5% increase in holiday retail sales over the previous year; in 2005, holiday retail sales rose 6.1%.)

Hanukkah (starting at sundown on Dec. 4) is likely to help sales earlier during this season, and Christmas falling on a Tuesday should boost last-minute sales in the weekend before the big holiday. As always, Kwanzaa begins on Dec. 26.

I realize that you’ll be very busy over the next 50 or so days, but I’d advise you to consider buying more merchandise now if you can handle it. There are a number of incredible deals I know of that are available to you only through the end of this calendar year. Be proactive and call or email your manufacturers reps (see Manufacturers Reps) or contact your suppliers (see Suppliers/Brands) right now. May your holiday season—and beyond—be highly profitable!

Let me know your thoughts at mbirenbaum@creativeage.com

See you next Wednesday,

Marc