It’s shaping up to be a busy year for The Refinery, a six-year-old barbershop and men’s spa with three locations in London.
The firm will introduce its signature product line in the U.S. next month, launch two Refinery products in October and open a location in Tokyo as early as next March, thanks to a joint venture with makeup artist Shu Uemura.
The 10-item Refinery personal care collection, which includes shaving, skin and body care products, will make its debut at seven Barneys New York locations in September. The following month, The Refinery will introduce two more items — a 50-ml. antiaging cream for 40 British pounds, or $75.70 at current exchange, and a 125-ml. gel face wash for 16 British pounds, or $30.25.
Laith Waines, a former investment banker, resigned from Capital Trust in London’s Mayfair district in 1998 and 13 months later cofounded The Refinery with Omar Fadli. Waines didn’t travel far; The Refinery’s first location, a 3,500-square-foot space, was opened in Mayfair in early 2000 at a cost of 1.2 million pounds, or $1.9 million at average exchange.
“We reached a point where we wanted to do our own thing,” Waines said, explaining his leaving finance, and “most places [in London] were unisex or for women only. We wanted to create an [urban] sanctum for men.”
For the Tokyo location, Waines and Fadli have signed a joint-venture agreement with Uemura to open The Refinery’s first store outside the U.K. Uemura has taken a 35 percent stake in The Refinery’s Japanese initiative, and a 4,000-square-foot Refinery is to open in the Tokyo Midtown Project. The high-rise complex, which includes retail and hotel space, is scheduled to open next year. It’s projected that it will cost 1.5 million pounds, or $2.8 million at current exchange, to launch the Tokyo Refinery.
“Our strategy is to open spas in key cities around the world,” said Waines. “Once we launch the spa [in Tokyo] next year, perhaps we’ll enter Shanghai and Beijing. He [Uemura] has a vision that if the launch in Japan is successful,” then China could be next, Waines noted.
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“We’re very keen to do something in America,” he added. “We’re looking for someone to do a joint venture in New York or Los Angeles.”
The Refinery’s flagship in Mayfair, which features 10 treatment rooms and 10 barber/styling stations, spawned a second shop in London’s financial district in 2002. A third location was opened at Harrods in Knightsbridge in 2004. About 3 million pounds, or roughly $5.3 million at average exchange, has been invested in the three locations.
The menu of services at The Refinery is extensive. Some of the hair and barber services are shaves, haircutting and coloring for between 20 pounds, or $37.85 at current exchange, and 105 pounds, or $198.75. Spa services include massages, facials, waxing, electrolysis, laser hair removal, manicures and pedicures, for between 14 pounds, or $26.50, and 130 pounds, or $246.10.
The Refinery’s current annual revenues top 3 million pounds, or $5.7 million, and the new initiatives through next spring could grow that figure by as much as 25 percent. Skin care services account for about half of The Refinery’s volume, while retail generates 30 percent and hair services garner 20 percent.
When it comes to the product side of the business, “we’re not in a hurry to roll out the brand,” said Waines. “With the U.K. launch [in 2003], we wanted to build a following. We believe in cultivating and nurturing the brand. That’s what I want to do with Barneys.”
The line could generate first-year retail sales volume of between $250,000 and $400,000 in the U.S.
Waines noted the line’s best-selling products include Shave Foam Gel, priced for the U.S. at $22.50 for 125 ml.; Shave Oil, $39.50 for 30 ml.; Face Scrub, $34 for 100 ml.; Face Mask, $47 for 75 ml., and Eye Gel, $47 for 20 ml.
Other products in the line include Face Wash, $30 for 100 ml.; Moisturizer for the face, $53 for 75 ml.; Post Shave Balm, $53 for 100 ml.; Body Wash, $30 for 200 ml., and Fresh Water Mud Soap, $22.50 for 100 grams.
“We wanted to go the holistic, natural route,” said Waines, “rather than the scientific route.” He noted that research conducted with The Refinery’s clients indicated they “wanted to have natural products.”
Aloe vera is a key ingredient in multiple Refinery shave products; witch hazel, black currant seed oil, clove and peppermint are also used. The shave oil has an essential oil blend that includes extracts of jojoba, borage, camellia, petitgrain, geranium, patchouli and cedarwood. The Refinery’s products are formulated by U.K. company Aromatherapy Associates.
In the U.K., Refinery products are carried at Harvey Nichols, Harrods, Space NK and upscale spas, or about 40 doors in all. The Refinery just signed a distributor for the German market and expects to be in 50 doors in that country soon. The firm also is eyeing Australia and Dubai.