Two MBA Students Walk Into a Bar.....

Pete and Lexie went to the U Street Corridor to interview ladies who were in a bar or on their way to a bar.

Sara Lang

We found Sara in Marvin while she was waiting for a friend. Sara works in politics, at a non-profit where she does advocacy stuff. She went to Macalester College in Minnesota and majored in political science. She generally gets her hair done every six months. She’s getting it cut tomorrow for the first time in four months.  She gets is cut the same long, straight length, which should be simple but she still experiences inconsistencies. She also gets manicures with her very social coworkers or friends.

She goes to Chinatown to a hair stylist named Diego.  She usually spends $100 to $200 for styling.  When she spends less, like $60 to $100 for cheaper haircuts, they’ve been terrible.  She spends $40 for manipedi, which she say is a good price.

She will be in eight weddings coming up and will follow what the bride does and wants for determining. 

As part of the wedding preparation process, she likes getting together, having fun all together with family and friends to get hair done and makeup done.  Regarding cost, she can’t handle $2,000 for friends that we love.

She thinks these events through our Beauty Bar would be good with BYOB and would be good for big events, weddings, and inaugurations.

We talked about how does she get people to donate money – line them up with a cause, a connection, and ask them for a reasonable, small amount.  Get them to donate once and then it is easier to get them to do it again.

We asked her what did we not ask about but should have.  She told us to ask about the frequency of events women go to, and also ask people about residency in DC – lots of events, population to draw from.

Catherine

Catherine was waiting for the Circulator at the corner of 14^th and U St when we approached her. She looked very familiar so asked about her undergraduate experience and how she ended up in DC. It turns out she is a Duke graduate (Class of 2010). She studied public policy and she was in Alpha Phi Sorority. She also wrote for The Chronicle, the university newspaper. Another event she took part of was tenting for the Duke-UNC basketball game her senior year of college. After graduating from college, she found a job in DC then participated in a fellowship. She now works at a different job, her third in three years, at a nonprofit in DC. She said she has participated in a wedding in the recent past and would be attending more in the upcoming year.

Lacy

Lacy was walking up 14^th St in the rain and stopped to talk to us. The constant rain did not stop her from talking to us. She works for the State Department, which she began a few years after graduating from Macalester College. She studied political science, held a work study job and participated on the Frisbee team while she was there. She is now trying to get involved in Frisbee out here and she plans to join a team that plays at Meridian Hill Park. She moved to DC to work in the legal field as a paralegal then decided she wanted to move into public health. She was hired but she is considering going back to school. She was interested in attending a business school class at Georgetown and she asked us a lot of questions about the program and work-school-personal life balance.

Lacy said she has not been to a lot of weddings and she does not spend a lot of time grooming or primping. She was a flower girl when she was 5 years old. She generally gets her hair cut every five months and she will change styles from time to time, depending on the season and her mood. When she goes to a salon to get manicures or pedicures, she usually goes with friends. She said she and two friends will go as a bonding experience but it usually ends up not being a very great experience. She and her friends typically get split up during the appointment and the nail ladies can create a very uncomfortable dynamic when they are not social with clients. Lacy said she tends to like the process of getting her nails done more than she actually likes the final result.

Lacy was familiar with the concept of Dry Bar and said her initial reaction was, “Wow, there’s a place to only get your hair blown out?” This was not said in awe but rather amazement that it would get enough business to survive. She liked the social idea of getting ready with a group of friends. She said she would consider something like that when preparing for big events or getting ready for a wedding. She left us with her email address to follow up if we have more questions later during the process.

Karen

Karen didn’t want us to take her picture, so we took a picture of her umbrella to help us remember our conversation with her.  We didn’t ask but believe she is about 38-45 years old.

She was a school teacher for 11 years, but is now about to start a job at the Y.  She’s from Tennessee and went to University of Tennessee (she’s a Volunteer).  She has been in DC for a couple of years.  Her husband works in DC and that’s what brought them her.

With her questions we then explain what we’re doing, about the class, and our idea.  Pete is asked specifically why as a guy he’s doing this and provides explanation.  She then tells us that Dry Bar is Great, and gets her hair done every couple of months.  In Tennessee she went to Supercuts and got her hair done for $18.  In contrast, in DC it costs $40 just to get hair blow dried.  She used to get her nails done but she’s a runner now and so does not do it anymore as they conflict (the rubbing of toes in the shoe).  She’s going to do a bunch of 5K running events.  She mostly runs solo.  She has one runner friend to run with but they are faster than her.

She doesn’t get her hair done as a social event.  She was waiting for her husband who then became visible in the distance after a phone call indicating he was here. 

Heather and Laura

Heather is a stay-at-home mom and Laura is a lawyer in DC. They have two children together, ages 4 and 6. Both expressed interest in our involvement in business school. Heather is from Indiana and Boston and Laura is from Alabama via Chicago. She went to law school in Chicago then worked for a judge in Alabama. Both ladies then moved to DC and lived in Adams Morgan together for several years. They were walking down 14^th St when we stopped them to ask if we could interview.

When asked about grooming habits and salon use, Laura immediately said that she was low-maintenance and did spend much time having her hair styled. She said that she was relieved her job did not require her to attend many events that would involve stylists or getting dressed up. Heather said that she used to go to the same salon in Adams Morgan the entire time they lived in that neighborhood. She always went to the same man to have her hair cut and styled because he did well with curly hair. Now that they have moved to another neighborhood, she goes to Fiddleheads and she highly recommends the salon. Both Laura and Heather said that they did not imagine themselves spending much time getting ready with groups of friends and that they would not have a big production if they chose to get married in the future.

When we asked about Dry Bar, Laura told us we needed to interview straight women because, in her experience, she and her friends would not spend time on a service like that. They said that our target customer should have a good amount of disposable income but that they are still amazed by how many younger women they see getting their hair done for events after work. They did think it was a great idea considered how many high-dollar events DC has every year. They recommended exploring potential customer markets in Bethesda and Friendship Heights (especially the women walking out of Bloomingdale’s). Laura recommended the wealthier upper-Northwest neighborhoods and mom groups while Heather suggested younger women who work downtown and have to attend lots of events. A location downtown would give those women a nearby place where they can hop in and have a quick hair and makeup change and get dressed before going. They also discussed their experiences with friends hiring stylists to come into a hotel room and get everyone ready for the Espys.

Tacie

Tacie is from Pennsylvania, works at a law firm in DC, and is a recruiter.  We asked what works as being a recruiter, to sell people on something.  She told us just to be personable and real to make a connection with someone.  She went to Lafayette University.  She quickly turned around the questioning on us, to ask us what we were doing and where we are going with our questions.  We explained the class, pivoting to customers’ problems, ideas, and solutions. 

As Tacie is a recruiter, she feels she has to always look great.  She usually goes by herself for a haircut and gets it done about every month and a half.  She spends a fair amount of time every morning getting her hair set and her makeup done.  She wants to look great when on the job.  She sticks with one hair style.  She says as she’s an athlete and doesn’t like getting her nails done.  This is in conflict with being an athlete such as why would you get your toenails done when they rub against your shoe while running or cut the cuticle removed which you then need in sports. 

Then we told her about the existing Dry Bar and our concept of Beauty Bar.  She has heard of Dry Bar.  It turns out she is in a wedding next weekend and is the Maid of Honor.  She thinks a lot of people would like to do this (our concept).  For big events people will want to get it done, and don’t want to go from location to location due to services not being in the same place.  She does have her Maid of Honor speech ready.  Apparently the Best Men is known to be a really poor speaker and so she’ll go last to ensure they finish well.

It is nice to have everything in one place.  She does party planning and has learned this and said customers just want one place to go for what they need.

We asked what haven’t we brought up that she believes in important and she told us the price point.  We should offer deals – like if you get it all done together, if you get multiple things done (hair, nails, etc.)

Michelle

Michelle was at a bus stop and we did not have much time as her bus was coming soon.  We decided to press on and tested our ability interview at a high tempo.  Michelle is in HR and does recruiting.  Michelle’s body language and answers told us she did not want to share personal information.  She did not want us to take a picture of her but did let us take a picture of her bag – gold and black leopard print.

She went to the inauguration and that was the last time she got dressed up, and done up hair and makeup.  She did this herself without the service of a beauty salon or other place.  Otherwise she has not gotten dressed up in the recent remembered past. 

We explained what Dry Bar was (not much response) and then what our idea for Beauty Bar is.  She likes the idea and thought it was a viable one.  She thought of it as good for people coming to reunions and sorority activity.  A Theme Birthday was another idea she had.

Michelle told us the customer service level would be very important and must include high quality products.  Hypo allergenic makeup and other hypo allergenic products would be required too. 

She also suggested we need to target the right people.  She suggested her sorority friends.

We broke off at this point as her bus was coming and it was time for the pain to end.