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local 13th street business owner seen running naked with hair on fire

Apr 25, 2020

5 minute read 

Fake news is nothing new. Tabloids have been grabbing our attention for as long as I can remember. In as much as the modern fourth estate would like to deny their bias, what we are served is often sensationalized because of an insatiable twenty-four hour profit driven cycle. So while I ask forgiveness for stealing your attention, I also request a few short minutes to offer you an inside view of how your support of our small business is playing out.

Right now you might be hearing a lot about the SBA, PPP and taxpayer funded bailouts that are worth trillions of dollars yet to be printed. We the people are being sold the concept that these stimuli must be funded to jump start the economy and get everything moving again. I think most of us are afraid of what a recession might bring, and not knowing what we are to do next, having the government step in feels somehow necessary. To that point, let me state up front that duross & langel has applied for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP is calculated by 2.5 times your monthly payroll). If approved, this idea is to fund payroll for eight weeks, pay rent and utilities. We applied because during those eight weeks, if our payroll does not dip below 75% of what was paid in 2019, we can request loan forgiveness. The term of the PPP loan is 24 months with no payback for the first six. The loan forgiveness part is what appeals most to everyone, that’s the hook, but no one has really explained how forgiveness will occur. You with me so far? Great, because the next part is where I begin to get squirmy.

beware the jabberwock, my son 
the jaws that bite, the claws that catch! 

Having a small (free?) loan that will catch us up on rent and salaries is great for us but it might truly screw a good amount of mom and pop businesses. Let me break it down this way: duross & langel has a robust online business that not only allows us to sell our products while everything is shut down, because (weirdly) we make and sell the very things one might need in the event of a viral pandemic. Our online costs are not free and easy but certainly worth every dollar we pay (average shipper cost is $14) and packaging (average cost $3) per piece. Forget the rent for the moment. Forget salaries. Neither are being paid. Sarah and I have been working without pay because that’s what you do when you own a business and things get bad. Period. Unlike so many others, Sarah and I are fine for the moment, but eventually our landlords are going to want their rent money. Assuming we reopen the store in mid to late May, life will not be what it once was. With a level of acceptance that surprises even me, everything in our store is being changed so that we can accommodate social distancing. While we will still encourage shopping to be done online with delivery or in-store pickup, pre-shopping will become the 2020/21 norm. In other words, look online, put a list together, come in to the store for a sniff and behave as a dedicated shopper (get in-get out). New store hours will be limited because without the volume of traffic, the ability to afford part-timers evaporates. We will also need to ship and produce while concurrently running the store. Sarah and I have made peace with these realities. We’ve been through tougher times before. As long as we have our health, we can maintain until the paradigm shifts to a post pandemic model. For now, nothing will be back to pre pandemic levels for quite a while (restaurants, social shoppers, people in town for concerts, sporting events and conventions..) At a certain point, like most businesses, if demand were to diminish past 50% of 2019, we couldn't stay open. At this point we are still ahead of where many other small businesses find themselves. In the end however, everything negative creates a ripple effect. Something every business will be experiencing in the not so distant future.

In order to qualify for the PPP, restaurants will have to bring back at least 75% of staff for at least eight weeks. With social distancing protocols in effect, most restaurants will have a fill capacity of no more than half pre-pandemic while bar business (where a good chunk of their money is made) will tank. Assuming anyone still wants to go to their local eatery while there is no vaccine, no herd immunity and we are all thinking about what we're breathing in while eating in public. Like most small businesses, restaurants live on a thin financial existence. PPP takes care of some of the staff overhead for a short time but it leaves little left over to cover rent and utilities, especially when you are already two months in the hole from lockdown. Salons will be fine. Tough as it might be at first, salons will make up the difference quickly. With the exception of a few guys who bought clippers and buzzed their heads, the majority of the salon business is sitting at home champing at the bit to get an appointment. Most smaller mom and pop shops fall somewhere in between. Many, if not most, will never fully recover.

success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm

Having opened and closed several businesses, I am no stranger to failure. It is an innate component of small business and nothing to feel ashamed about. Statistically most small business do not survive. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20 percent of small businesses fail within their first year. By the end of their fifth year, roughly 50 percent of small businesses fail. After 10 years, the survival rate drops to approximately 35 percent. Throw in a global pandemic, a depression and/or a natural disaster.. it skews the numbers sky high. The financial pandemic, like the virus itself, will first kill off the small businesses that are weakened by preexisting conditions like high debt to income ratios, unworkable business models, bad management.. and then older/young businesses that are just not strong enough to survive the losses. Many will blame their closure on the pandemic. Most would have failed in the long term, but this sadly hastens their demise. Feelings aside, it is simple arithmetic.

Small business have become the partisan hot potato of the moment. I would suggest you not allow yourself be pulled into that emotional argument. The politicians are writing the gospel of small business while the press are spreading that narrative like a million tiny apostles. They are vilifying some larger small businesses, who also have employees who need to feed their families, for taking the PPP. I agree that publicly traded companies should find their own funding but you make up your own mind. It’s not for anyone else to form your opinions. Small businesses are important when they fulfill a public need/desire. When that desire wanes, businesses go away.

After sixteen years in business, Sarah and I remind one another to be encouraged by the support you’ve shown for the work that we do. It is in our DNA to run our business as if at any moment it could all go away. It helps us to attach to the daily result rather than some shallow, elusive idea of success. The relationships we form with you and the things we make are everything. When I think of my friends in business, I know that good, talented, smart people will always find a way. Some places are sure to close but creative people always reinvent themselves. New places will blossom. I know this from personal experience. My enthusiasm has never diminished.

Change can be difficult. It can feel uncomfortable. Like Alice falling through the looking glass, the process of change and a different view point changes our connection to the world around us. Perhaps this new point of view will teach us things that ultimately create a better world for everyone. In the end, it won’t matter what we wanted. What will matter is what we did with the things we had.

I wish you all health and love and joy. Please donate whatever you can to your local food bank. Looking after one another with care and kindness is the most important thing we can do.

Steve

Separating Hype From Fact About Sanitizing and Disinfecting

Mar 11, 2020

Most of us have formed an opinion on COVID 19 (the Coronavirus). My job is not to offer an opinion on what is happening, add to panic or disinformation. My job is to make soap, and skincare, and today, make sanitizer. We feel it is important to share why those of us at duross & langel personally feel the need to use sanitizer, and why we mitigate our contact with certain members of our community. We hope you will find this helpful.

As a 57 year old man in perfect health, I do not worry about contracting COVID 19. Though none of us likes to be sick, the mortality rate for someone like me, with no underlying or pre-existing conditions is very low. I will feel shitty for a few days, take my Mucinex and Aspirin, drink plenty of fluids and sleep. There are always possibilities that I could worsen, but my understanding of percentages tells me I would more likely die in a car driving to the airport on I-95. But that's me. What about the people we love?

Allison, Sarah and I were discussing this yesterday. Our friends in their 70's and 80's are the ones we worry about. Also, our extended families in their 50's and 60's with serious conditions. These are the reasons we work to stay well, wash our hands often, use hand sanitizers and sprays, and wipe surfaces with disinfectant wipes. Our job is to mitigate the spread of the disease. In other words, we act to stay well in the hopes that even if we do contact the virus, we won't spread it.

Though this chart comes from the CDC in China, it is a good (if not complete) picture of why it is believed we should mitigate the spread of the disease. If only for those most at risk.

MITIGATION

These are good steps to follow every cold and flu season. The Coronavirus is just one more reason to be aware. Without panic, we will weather this storm. Business may slow, measures may be taken by local government, we will continue to operate with the best intentions. The fear, as I understand it, is that by not mitigating the disease, we might overwhelm the healthcare system all at one. Ask yourself "what if?" What if we all got sick at once and there was not enough ventilators? Or hospital beds? What if our healthcare workers became ill and most could not work for a week or two or more? Mitigation is about not stressing the system, so that when people do get sick, the system still works. Right now, how we move through the world has to be more intentional for the good of others and society as a whole.

OUR PLAN

A little thoughtfulness and awareness is what we believe is required. Every morning we wipe down surfaces and things you touch with bleach, isopropyl alcohol or soap and water. We begin the day knowing that everything is fresh and clean. We keep hand sanitizer available for you to use after each sale is complete. We also recommend you use our sniffers rather than putting anything in the store up against your nose (Good for you. Good for others). This link from Consumer Reports explains why you should think twice before attempting to make your own supplies  but if you do, please check out the World Health Organization's website for the best, most effective recipes. Also, please remember to sign up for our email list at the bottom right area on the first page of the D+L website  so that you are always up to speed with our online savings events. While we love to see you in the store, if you are anything like me, sometimes it's just easier to have things delivered to work or home. 

As always, we wish you good health and prosperity. If you get stressed, check out our stress relieving self care, take a long, hot bath or find a way to ease your anxiety. My plan is to stay off social media except to post pictures and videos on the D+L pages. Cheers!

Steve Duross

creating duross & langel

Feb 10, 2020

the short story of how a seemingly implausible idea has become a philadelphia institution



As we are about to celebrate fifteen years of duross & langel, I was reminded that not everyone is familiar with how the whole thing came-to-be. Made me think that perhaps it’s time to write the basic framework of who we were, are and strive to be. To the best of my recollection, here we go.

2004 was one of those years where I found myself in the hallway. Do you know the saying ‘when one door closes, another door opens?’ Well if this axiom were to be believed then perhaps sometimes we get trapped between the doors in the hallway. No way in or out and we have to patiently wait for another door to open. In the changing fortunes of small business, the Atlas Hair Company was back to being a one chair salon while my 3 year adventure as The Philadelphia Soap Company just closed it’s doors. My gig with American Crew had ended a few years before and nothing was happening in my life, professionally speaking that is. I had fallen in love with James Langel and we were living together. It was financially a lean time, struggling to make ends meet. I had a steady income from my salon business and a little extra coming in from my gig at Joe Grooming. James left a job he hated for something else, though whatever that would be had yet to manifest. One of his goals was to return to school for his MBA. I wanted another go at what I had created with the soap company but differently. I wanted to recreate my idea as a venture that reflected my personal style and esthetic while attempting to be more than cute and soap. I wanted to build amazing formulas that would focus on actual skin care, where the formulations would be a reflection of healthy, natural living. The only way I could see accomplishing this goal while having to pay the bills was to partner with someone. I pitched this idea to James. We could form a business partnership. Something he could do while getting his degree that would also help us grow and pay bills. He would work the front desk making appointments and selling stuff while I cut hair during the day and made product at night. The bargain was struck. 50% of the business and the name duross & langel.

The business grew quickly. I worked a million hours. James went to work for IKEA but kept the books for D&L. By this time we were married and building a life together. Though he offered ideas and feedback, James pretty much kept to his lane. It was my job to build the business and it’s profile. Turns out we made better copy as two married gays who created a concept venture. We were delighted for anything that would get people to notice the shop. Eventually however, as the creator and the face of the company, I got the lion’s share of the press. To be quite honest, my ego never minded. James was a highly competitive husband who liked to “win”. I would happily acquiesce to his requirements in order to maintain a happy marriage but where duross & langel was concerned, not so much. Skip to the end of the end of that story.. I loved my work. I loved my husband. The marriage had run it’s course. At the close I just wanted three things: a divorce, sole custody of the dogs, and the majority share of the company.

If you understand the nature of our business today, it is focused around the product. Sarah and I definitely are a story, but it’s the story of the last thirteen years together working, sacrificing and growing our little enterprise. Sarah is now the one who runs the show while I pretty much stay in my lane and spew ideas. As my business partner and the one who interfaces with all aspects of our clients, Sarah now filters my ideas into something that will possibly work or be left on the mat. It has been an amazing experience to carve out an equal partnership with Sarah, the person I find myself married to in this venture.

duross & langel is a small, local company. We are equally (and proudly) an LGBTQ+ owned and women owned business. This October we will be celebrating 15 years in operation. We formulate and produce quality natural, hand made bath, spa and skin care products. Everything begins in the second floor workshop where recipes and formulas take shape. This working skin care kitchen produces many of the 100% natural handmade items you’ll find in our store. We also employ a local, family run FDA approved lab to produce larger quantities of our formulas, especially things like sulfate-free body wash and shampoos. Our creams and moisturizers are renown for their qualities, and for their rational prices. When you compare our labels to any of the bigger fancy name brands, you might be very surprised at how well we not only measure up, but exceed expectations. Though some products are processed and while we are allowed by law to call them “all-natural” we think that’s cheating. You’ll find that we make things as naturally as can be produced by law for this level of efficacy. Our bags and boxes are made from recycled paper. We have also begun to use compostable plastic-like materials for soap wrap and smaller bags.

When you shop our store, you begin to understand who we are and what it is we are attempting to accomplish. You are welcomed but not sold. We strive to be helpful but most often you’ll find we hang back so that you can experience the shop at your own pace. Always within arms reach, you can ask us to step up or answer any question. Since we make it ourselves, we are happy to share whatever information you require. Though we can be a bit cheeky when faced with the occasional rudeness. We assume most people don’t mean to be rude. Personally, I am a horrible shopper so I strive to be less judgmental of others under these circumstances. No one who is passionate about what they create ever wants to hear “does this stuff really work?”

The most difficult moments for us come when someone asks about our business plan which, truth be told, is a highly inappropriate subject to broach, especially when standing in the middle of our store. “Well don’t you want more stores? I should think you’d want to grow. Don’t you want to be successful? You know what you should do?” It’s the business world equivalent to asking for dick pics. I don’t think people realize how screwed up it is to invade, question and judge the private plans of a small business owner. What we don’t say is that sometimes we are offered massive sums of money to do things that would drastically change the nature of our lives but thus far, VETO. Sarah and I like our lives. We like our vibe. We enjoy the simplicities and complexities of our daily life as is. We make enough money to pay the bills, take care of our staff, travel and put some away. We are focused on improving our daily lives, a commitment to our staff and to our communities. We are intentional about the way we move our lives and the way we run our business. It’s not that we are opposed to expansion, just that we have yet to find the right fit. And the whole point of working for ourselves is to create an environment where the business can be a refection of our lives and our values and do daily what makes us happy. Or so we believe. One of the more sobering things about having been an entrepreneur for the last twenty-five years is seeing how many seemingly successful businesses, some encumbered with anachronistic eighties values and millennial MBAs, while others simply not viable in today’s economy, have gone out of business. Sarah and I do not believe that on our dying day we will be wishing we worked more hours or screwed over anyone so that we could have notoriety and make a bit more coin.

We couldn't be more proud of the world we've created. Though the original idea was mine, whatever success we’ve enjoyed has been a group effort. We are profoundly grateful to everyone who has shopped, supported and worked with us. It’s a fun little store that makes people smile. An improbable concept that is now a local favorite. Let’s enjoy that for a while.

Check out our website for more info: www.durossandlangel.com