CLAIRE Lawrence and Nichola Donnelly, two former area managers with pub chain JD Wetherspoon, have revealed plans to pluck, preen and sell their way to a multi-million-pound 50-store men's grooming empire over the next few years.
Less than three weeks ago, the pair opened the first Men's Store on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, in the former Halifax building, and have plans to roll out another two stores before Easter next year.
The women, who have raised a (pounds) 500,000 package for what they claim is Scotland's - possibly the UK's - first all-
inclusive shop dedicated entirely to men's grooming needs, also have a further (pounds) 2m in expansion finance in place through a mixture of personal investment, business bank loans and venture capital funding.
The enterprise, located between sexy lingerie shop Ann Summers and Dino's pizza eatery, is notable because in a high street world increasingly dominated by high-powered chain stores and the outlets of multinational conglomerates, here is a first-time independent retailer smack in the middle of one of Scotland's busiest streets.
They also have plans to
open a cluster of core stores in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Man-chester, Brighton, Birming-ham, Newcastle and Leeds over the next five years - and then branch out from there into the mass franchise mar-
ket.
The rationale behind this one-stop men's beauty shop - which sells everything from haircuts, wet shaves and full-body wax treatments to face scrubs, razor blades, shower gels, aftershaves, condoms and even pregnancy test kits - is that the men's grooming market is currently worth (pounds) 655m in the UK and is expected to rise to (pounds) 850m by the end of 2005.
''I can tell you we've already sold a fair number of eye creams,'' said Lawrence, who is originally from Wales, but has moved to Glasgow from Edinburgh to be near the business.
''This is a huge and growing market, which has come on the back of the increased focus on well-being and health. Men are very rapidly catching up with women in this area.
''A lot of men want to be just as groomed as their wives or partners, and many women also want their men to be just as groomed as they are.
''But generally, men are more image-conscious than ever before.''
All of which begs the question - why Glasgow? Are Glasgow men more vain than their counterparts in other UK cities?
Donnelly, who hails from Northern Ireland, said: ''I wouldn't say more vain, but perhaps more image-conscious than, say, men in Edinburgh.
''Glasgow is the UK's major retail centre outside of London, and Glasgow guys are definitely the most fashionable and image-conscious in Scotland. We're offering them an easy- going environment where they can shop at their own pace without feeling intimidated about going into traditional female-orientated shops. This is about blush-free shopping.''
All the same, with their rent and rates on Sauchiehall Street in excess of (pounds) 200,000 a year and a staff of 15 to pay, the pressure is on.
Donnelly added: ''Our location, I think, more than justifies the rent and rates. More than 100,000 shoppers a week pass this spot. If 2% of them come and spend an average of (pounds) 19, we'll be well in profit.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article