Many New
Yorkers, especially of a certain age, will lament the fact that New York City
has become homogenized or in other words
the city has been cleaned up to such a large extent that it has lost some of
its allure and a lot of its grit. One of things that has happened in the
process is that the smaller retailer, often referred to as mom and pop stores, have all but evaporated from sight. The
gentrification has left a trail of victims
but there are some steadfast persevering retailers who have made the
transition from the old New York to the new glossy version which includes
online shopping.
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The upside
to the survivors is that instead of
being just local they have now become international and no longer dependent solely
on foot traffic. Thank you INTERNET… which has unarguably changed the
complexion of retailing on every level and in every conceivable category. Today
it’s all about a brand that was once confined only to the cognoscenti of the theater
world … thespians and hair and make up professionals. The brand is ALCONE and I
tip my hat to a brand that has still retained a retail outlet in the heart of
the theater district as well as expanded exponentially on the worldwide stage.
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So if you
are looking for anything from lashes to eyeballs, from masks to mascara, from
blood to brushes, and just about
everything and anything you might imagine to fill your makeup needs then you
have indeed found the premier resource.
Just perusing their offerings will entertain and educate as to just how
vast their world is and how equally encyclopedic the selection.
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Think of
Diana Vreeland who said ... “give them
what they never knew they wanted” and I will add “what they never knew existed”
when it comes to this universe of makeup needs. So now in the words of the
founders’ descendants here is ALCONE who is about to celebrate their 65th
anniversary this coming month….
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Jeffrey Felner: Can you give us a brief
history of your brand up to this point?
Maria Stewart: Alcone Company was
founded in 1952 by Alvin and Harriet Cohen. Alvin’s parents owned a pharmacy on
West 20th street which also served as the first location for Alcone Company. At
the time, they specialized in stage makeup and theatrical supplies, which we
still provide to numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. However the
professional industry we serve now has grown to include all avenues of
production - television, film fashion, art. So since its origin, Alcone Company
has grown to become both distributors of professional beauty brands and special
effects makeup as well as our eponymous products. Even though we still
predominantly cater to the professional industry, the everyday consumer and
makeup fanatic multiplies daily, which is why we created Limelight by Alcone. Limelight
is a direct sales company which allows an individual to sell our most popular
products and receive a commission for their sales.
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Jeffrey
Felner: What is your assessment of the
beauty business of today as opposed to when you began this journey?
Maria Stewart: Today it is a multibillion dollar industry that is seemingly
unstoppable. When we (the Mallardi’s) began this journey into the world of
Alcone and professional makeup, there were not nearly as many makeup brands on
the market as there are now. Social media and the internet has changed all that
for us and has remarkably us and the beauty business overall. “Everyday people”
now know about professional makeup products and the demand has just
skyrocketed. All it takes is one “influencer” to mention a product, often one that
we’ve sold for many years, and then it flies off the shelves and we literally
cannot restock that item fast enough. There is also no warning when this will
happen, so it can shock the system a bit, especially for small, independent
manufacturers.
What’s interesting about this is that professional
makeup brands have traditionally not used any kind of fancy packaging and
certainly no gimmicks. It was just great products in simple jars that makeup artists
repotted to customize their own palettes for their kit. This kept costs down
for everyone, the brands and the artists. So it’s amazing that in the beauty
industry where there are so many product options, we find that die-hard makeup
lovers/enthusiasts want authentic professional makeup. In fact, we often get
product developers in our store, or at the industry trade shows that come looking
for ideas … sic rip off.
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Jeffrey
Felner: If you could rewrite any part of
your history what would it be and why?
Maria Stewart: For the most part I think that everything worked out the way it was
supposed to as far Alcone’s history. That said … looking back it would have been great if we
had invested in commercial property in the NYC years ago - rents have just
skyrocketed in New York City and many of the cool, boutique type stores are
gone and have been replaced by huge corporate chains. When looking back on our
little store on 19th Street that we acquired in the 90’s, Chelsea was not yet
on the rise and I just wished we had invested more in that area at the time. We
were the only ones bringing outside foot traffic to that street and now it is one
of the most expensive locations, residential or commercial, in all of
Manhattan. Still, we are happy and proud to have been (and still be) a part of
NYC’s community of small businesses with unique shops.
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Jeffrey
Felner: Can you share your most prized
memory or collaboration during the brand’s lifetime and why is it so prized?
Maria Stewart: Blue Man Group will always have a special place in Alcone’s heart. This
was a situation where three complete strangers walked into our office and
pitched their performance art concept to my brother Vincent and my sister Mary.
They said their concept involved blue makeup, bald caps, drums and catching
things in their mouths. This really intrigued Vincent and Mary who then
searched high and low for whatever products might fit their needs. Vincent
actually just gave them the products for free (especially since they had
shopping bags filled with cream cheese and bananas-Vincent assumed they were
struggling but turns out that those were actually props used for the show.) To
this day, Vincent oversees the integrity of their signature blue shade. The
reason this collaboration is so prized for us is because at the time, no one
had any idea of how huge the Blue Man Group would become. We just embraced the
project because it was an opportunity to help these artists fulfill their
vision, which is always our goal. Now they are so ingrained in American
artistic culture, that originated right here in New York City, and we are truly
proud and grateful that they chose Alcone to be a part of this amazing journey.
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Jeffrey
Felner: What is your opinion of online
selling vs. brick and mortar...? Upsides? Downsides? Why?
Maria Stewart: There are many upsides of selling online- first and foremost the ability
to reach huge audiences in an instant, at their convenience, in the comfort of
their homes, 24 hours a day. Part of our mission as a company is to make our
products available to people outside the industry, who love high quality at a
great value, and selling online has allowed us to do that.
The downside of course, is that you can only see
the product on a digital image, which doesn’t allow one to know the texture or
color payoff, which is critical to buying makeup products especially for
professional artists, but also for today’s savvy consumers. So we find that
most people who buy online are most often engaging in repurchase of items they
have tried or used before.
Brick and mortar is still, in my opinion, the most
important channel for selling makeup. For us specifically, it allows our
customers to experience the products as well as get personalized
recommendations from our pro artist staff, who are all working makeup artists
in the industry. Our store location is really quite unique in that it’s always
been a place for artists to gather, share ideas and discuss different
approaches to the challenges of a particular project. They’re encouraged to
play and give the products a test run before their makeup gig so they can go
away confident that the products they purchase are going to achieve their
clients’ desired results. So it’s a bit of an interactive environment so to
speak.
The same with our “consumer” customers who are
looking for products for themselves. For them, the opportunity to have
one-on-one time with a professional makeup artist and get advice is much more
personal than online shopping because they’re getting real solutions to their
beauty questions. That’s where brick n mortar is the really the star when it
comes to professional makeup.
The downside for us from a business perspective are
the rising costs in rent if you want to operate out of a storefront in a
popular neighborhood or even expand our retail presence. Being a distributor
for professional products means that we sell high quality products to a wider
audience but at affordable pricing. In a way, we are a “little engine that
could” being a small family run business competing with a luxury market. But
still, we hold true to our heart, and are happy to have a hub where our
customers can still go to, shop and interact with others.
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