Original illustration of niche and luxury perfumes by Jasia  Julia Nielson of  The Sound of Scent

Today is Labor Day in the USA, a day when most Americans have time off. Entrepreneurs, especially small business owners seldom have that luxury. In our third Round Table discussion (Independent Perfume Companies and Start-up Independent Perfume brands) I wanted to pay homage to the retailers, all with brick and mortar stores that carry niche, artisan and independent fragrances. I asked eight fragrance boutique owners, (six who have been featured in our series WE LOVE THIS STORE) to explain to our readers the challenges and opportunities in running a successful niche perfume store. You must have courage, passion, build a customer base, and emphasize education and in-depth knowledge of your stock. Owning a brick and mortar store takes different skill sets than e-tailing. What do you do when a customer wanders into your shop and asks for Dolce & Gabanna Light Blue? If a client insists they don’t like musk and they end up purchasing one of your muskiest scents, I would imagine there is a special pride in knowing you have changed someone’s perception. That is the power of niche perfume and the stores that devote their shelf space solely to this very small segment of the overall industry –Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

Ann Onusko of Indigo Perfumery

Cleveland, Ohio: Indigo Perfumery will celebrate its fifth birthday in October. Since its inception, I have been driven by my passion for perfume and its connectivity with nature and the arts. I previously worked as a floral designer and special events decorator, so had intimate knowledge of flowers and fragrance. The inspiration for Indigo was sparked by my visits to Europe where there are perfumeries with niche and artisan perfumes. I thought why not has a perfumery in the middle of America, but to this day, we need to explain daily what a perfumery is and where the fragrances come from. Once our customers begin sniffing, they soon experience the character and personalities that the perfumes offer. Our boutique is full of color and flowers, with each line in its own artistic setting. We believe in the importance of reaching out to the arts world and have had co-hosted several exhibitions with galleries and art students. We also illustrate the beauty of the scents through flowers, as their molecules are an important component of most perfumes.Running a successful niche perfume store is a difficult and  interesting path, with constant challenges along the way. Marketing, budget constraints, inventory balancing, the gray market and decanters keep us on our toes. To remain in the retail end of fragrance, you certainly need to be passionate about the original reason you opened a boutique- because you love perfume!-Ann Onukso, Owner of Indigo Perfumery

Josie Plumey of OsswaldNYC

New York, New York: Osswald NYC is based off the simple premise of offering Swiss hospitality in New York; our flagship store in Zurich – nearly one-hundred years old! – is world-renowned for having consistently been at the forefront of niche and novelty for its entire existence. Thusly, we aim to carry lines that are hard to find elsewhere: either in New York, on the East Coast, or in the US! We just celebrated being open for six years, and we’re incredibly proud of this achievement. Retail in New York is undergoing a scary transformation, and Tanja Dreiding Wallace and I credit the ‘vibe’ of Osswald with keeping us in business. There are a lot of wonderful perfumeries in the city, and we all offer something different – the only competition we have is with rising rents and the incredible vastness of online e-retailers, etc. We feel like we have found our place as this gateway from department store to niche, whether the transition is happening with perfume or skincare. We look not unlike a Bergdorf or Saks, but we offer an open shelf plan and staff that’s incredibly knowledgeable and eager to play and chat, which is one of our secrets in running a successful niche perfume store! Truly, our greatest pride is in how seeing HAPPY our clients are when they walk into the store and when they leave. All we want is for people to come in, learn something new, and leave in love with something new.-Josie Plumey, Buyer and Fragrance Director of OsswaldNYC

Arielle Weinberg of Arielle Shoshanna

Washington D.C.: Arielle Shoshana, D.C.'s first niche fragrance boutique, opened in the Mosaic District of Fairfax, Virginia in 2015. Before I was lucky enough to get to spend my days helping people smell more interesting, I wrote about perfume on Scents of Self, a perfume blog that I started my freshman year of college to distract myself from the fact that I was failing most of my classes. One aspect of running a successful niche perfume store that I think people might find interesting: 87% of Arielle Shoshana customers make only one purchase, ever. Only 13% become repeat customers. However, that 13% is responsible for 36% of our sales! These numbers demand quite a balancing act. The fragrances we choose to carry need to be unconventional enough to keep our disproportionately spendy “fragonerds” interested, but not so challenging that they alienate the other 87%. And when we finally do find that perfect innovative-but-not-too-polarizing niche brand to bring in, it's only a matter of time before the department stores find them, too. It's a hamster wheel of an industry! (A hamster wheel that I am truly grateful to have the opportunity to ride).-Arielle Weinberg, Owner of Arielle Shoshanna

From left to right– Co-owners Tani Kampakum, Claude Gratianne, and employees extraordinaire- Jesus Marin and Alfonso Haro of ZGO Perfumery

In 2010 my partner Tani Kampakum and I decided to pursue our passion and open a business themed around fragrance. A lot has happened in those eight years and we can say that running a successful niche perfume store is not for the faint of heart. There is no doubt that the business environment is more than challenging and the key to success requires continuous self-examination and willingness to grow in new directions. Fortunately, the world of fragrance offers many potential avenues to grow and the mulitiered creative aspects of perfume is what we really enjoy about working in this business. In turn, our pursuit of creating a unique vision of fragrance also has enriched our own lives in ways we didn't initially expect. First, there is an almost bottomless depth of knowledge in perfumery. The science and chemistry of perfume, molecules and materials is a subject that PhD careers can be made of. But the fascination of scent isn't only in the science- but in the artistry and its effect on culture, and us as individuals. Most people are unaware of the power of scent on our state of mind and how we perceive the world around us. We've made it our passion to bring that fascination into a format that we can share with our customers; by the curation of both ZGO Perfumery’s store and website, but especially by the in-store experience. We feel that especially in today's digital and fast paced lifestyle, the brand stories and knowledge we can share are what our customers are what we cherish about the in-store experience. We are really excited about our own (top secret) creations that we have in the works- which has been a journey in itself- and more to follow by October!–Claude Gratianne, Co-Owner of ZGO Perfumery

Nir Guy of Perfumology

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania: Perfumology, first opened as a broom-closet shop in 2013, then a kiosk, and finally rebirthed as my dream perfumery in October 2017. Perfumology is located in the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania, surrounded by over seventy brands, shops and department stores selling fragrances of all prices in the building. As the internet strengthened online discounters, more people droned through the halls with a thick veil over their eyes and noses that only big brands existed, with fewer requests for spontaneous purchases from us. Worse, everyone's requests smelled the same, counter to my personal tastes. My curiosity developed for artistic independent brands and drove me to make a serious change. Studying online forums and magazines like CaFleureBon, reading several books, watching and reaching out to YouTube reviewers guided us to the brands we carry today. Perfumology found its home by partnering with unique, high quality fragrance companies. The decision to curate small to midsized brands brought knowledgeable customers in to our shop, who told their friends and grew our business. Our success follows a simple rule: close the gap between niche perfumers and buyers. – Nir Guy, Owner of Perfumology

Tracy Tsefalas and André Gooren of Fumerie

Portland, Oregon: I opened Fumerie Parfumerie in early 2016 after years of hard work and research. Along with all of the usual challenges associated with running a small business and running a successful niche perfume store, as a fragrance boutique one of our biggest challenges has been contending with the vast array of new launches and houses. As an indie boutique, we just can't carry everything; instead we decided to stay true to our vision and offer lines that resonated with us. This approach has been well-received by our customers who appreciate our thoughtfully-curated selection. Before opening Fumerie, I worked in fragrance retail for nearly thirty years. In this time I watched as the industry was consolidated through mergers and acquisitions. With Fumerie, I wanted to get back to the roots of perfumery and present it as an art form. Our boutique is really a celebration of our passion for fragrance and we share this passion with every customer who walks through the door. Both my manager André Gooren and I have a background in fragrance and pride ourselves on our ability to offer a truly unique experience. To this end, we offer monthly events ranging from fragrance swaps to visits by perfumers like Ralf Schwieger and Andy Tauer. –Tracy Tsefalas, Owner of Fumerie Parfumerie

Maurice Locke and Bhavika Mistry of Osme Perfumery

Miami, Florida: Running a successful niche perfume store in a new city such as Miami was an exciting endeavor. In a city that is developing and changing so quickly we wanted to make sure we leave a footprint in how we shape it. What we wanted to do were open mainstream customers up to the world of niche perfumery. One of our biggest successes at Osme Perfumery has been the ability to create an experience that customers enjoy and learn from. That experience allows customers to buy into niche perfumery and what it can provide. It’s not only about finding a scent but learning about how fragrances can invoke memories and change how you feel. We always tell people it’s an extension of your personality which can be achieved by picking the right fragrance for that person. The challenges we have faced running a niche perfume store is more related to just starting up a new business and marketing. These business hurdles aren’t specifically related to a niche perfume business but just general business. Specific to marketing it’s more so about finding the right avenues that is the most effective. – Maurice Locke and Bhavika Mistry, Co-Owners of Osme Perfumery

 Eric Weiser and Stamatis Birsimijoglou of Twisted Lily

Brooklyn, N.Y: In 2012 seeds were planted surfacing around the idea of opening an indie perfumery. The seeds blossomed with the encouragement of Michelyn Camen and before we knew it  my partner Stamatis Birsimijoglou and I opened Twisted Lily in the fall of 2013, in the heart of Brooklyn's historic brownstone district; it's been a whirlwind ever since! Despite previous gigs in the industry, nothing could have prepared us for running a successful niche perfume store. The most difficult challenge we face is balancing the business and personal elements of our lives. Twisted Lily is in our blood, it's become a defining element for us and it's been amazing to watch it develop into a retail point of destination. We attract customers from all over the globe as well as serving as a source of inspiration for some industry behemoths (talk about being flattered). Our goal is to provide information to all those seeking it and with no gimmicks. To know Twisted lLly is to know that we are attentive yet laid back, we prefer the term merchandising over curating and Indie over niche!  Merchandising is challenging; each week we have heaps of evaluations to run through. Every line represented in the shop has been chosen for a reason and every item has been tested by our team for quality and uniqueness. I'd call our product mix "sensibly eclectic". We enjoy pushing the envelope for the sake of art, not shock. We want our fragrances to instill feelings of happiness, sensuality or success. Be a Diva, outside the shop, and relish in your scent. Be independent, formulate your own opinions and simply work it!–Eric Weiser, Co-Owner of Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary

What do you think of our eight panelists in this “Running a Successful Niche Perfume Store round table”? Which quotes, or retailer’s words resonate the most?  Have you shopped in any of our eight small niche perfume boutiques? Let’s be reminded that many of our draws are sponsored by these remarkable and small stores. Please leave a comment in support!!!