The Art of Business>Profile

Beauty & the Beast:
Kingston's Columbia Beauty Supplies
By Mala Hoffman . Photos by Megan McQuade

At its roots, so to speak, Columbia Beauty Supplies is a family business. Established 30 years ago by Shirley and Richard Kobran, who had moved to Kingston from New York City, the wholesale and retail supply firm was an outgrowth of a beauty salon they started in 1960. “My mother was born on Columbus Day, therefore Columbia,” explains Laura Spaey (nee Kobran), who joined the business 20 years ago, eventually taking it over from her parents. “It predated the chains. But the industry has changed, so we changed with it, in our own direction, which is slightly eclectic.”
To say the least. In addition to a wide range of beauty supplies, including makeup, hair accessories, bath lotions, and hair dyes, the store also carries a full line of wigs and is the local destination for Halloween costumes. That aspect began when Shirley Kobran found some old wigs in the basement and put them out on the street in front of the store one October in the early ’80s. “People came by and said, do you have anything else? The next year, I came in and we had twelve costumes that were received really well, and so it grew,” Spaey recalls. “By the late ’80s, we were renting costumes and we now have over 1,000 costumes in our rental department.”

The costumes, from ghoulish witches and warlocks to historical Renaissance and Civil War representations, are also used throughout the year by school and community theater groups as well as those hosting theme parties. Spaey recently created Italian art masks for a wedding, matching the feathers to the bridesmaids’ dresses. The costumes are also available through the store’s recently established Web site, www.columbiacostumes.com.

There are also walls and racks of accessories, including hats, veils, swords, feather boas, tiaras, and gloves. In the area of wings alone, one can go from butterfly to ladybug to angel to grasshopper. “We could even find you moth wings,” Spaey says.

In the early ’90s, Columbia began specializing in wigs, which has turned out to be another growth area. The process has also been inspirational. “We would sell people these wigs who had cancer, and then they would come back to purchase other products later on when they were well,” Spaey notes. “We realized these were success stories, and that we were helping people feel good until they got better.” Darlene Moylan, one of Columbia’s staff members (“she’s been here longer than I have,” Spaey says with a smile), was actually trained through the Look Good Feel Good program, which caters to those undergoing chemotherapy, to better assist those clients.

Spaey doesn’t feel that there is a conflict among Columbia’s many offerings. Instead, she finds they complement each other. “They’re all totally related,” she says. “We can cover your scars or create them.” In fact, it is the company’s success each Halloween that enables her to keep a full staff the rest of the year. “We have six full-time people,” she says. “Most businesses on the block are owner-operated. I rely on [Halloween], but I’m also trying to increase the other aspects.”

Spaey says that 80 percent of her total costume business is Halloween and that the season runs from early September through the end of October. Over time, she adds, the season has been beginning earlier and earlier. “It used to be we did 80 percent of the business in the last two weeks and 80 percent of that was the last two days, but it isn’t like that anymore. People aren’t waiting as long to start because they don’t want to put themselves through that.”
Now Columbia itself is undergoing a makeover, with the renovation of a new space at 66 North Front Street. With Halloween sales booming, Spaey had found that the Wall Street space her parents had leased for years was too small. “We had the option of leaving the area, and instead, we bought a building and made the commitment to stay,” she says. “We believe in the uptown area and what it represents.” Though she had hoped to be in the new building, which she had purchased in May, by last Halloween, construction constraints forced her to temporarily move across the street from the old location. “We plan to be in by spring,” Spaey adds. The store’s sales are about 50 percent retail and 50 percent wholesale (including state-of-the-art dryers, hair irons, and other beauty appliances), and Spaey says about a third of the business is related to the costumes and wigs.

The new 7,500-square-foot space has two floors (“our basement will be our attic,” Spaey notes) and “80 running feet of windows” to provide better light for the wig department. There are also two parking lots, a plus in uptown Kingston.

In the meantime, Spaey keeps experimenting with display racks and product lines to find new ways to showcase and improve the enormous variety of items Columbia offers. “It’s not my background,” says Spaey, who actually majored in biodynamic agriculture and claims she had no imagination until she reached her thirties. “So you have to find something in it for yourself. The fact that our customers come in here and leave smiling, they have fun—that’s what I enjoy. There are not many places where you can work and say, They felt good when they left.”

Fashion Statement

With the variety of the costumes Columbia Beauty Supplies carries, owner Laura Spaey sometimes has trouble defining them. Take the Wicked Witch of the West, for example. Though it has green piping (to match its wearer’s face), the costume can also be construed as a classic Victorian gown. “It’s all interrelated, and you never know what to call anything,” Spaey says.

The same might be said for the street wear by Shrine, a Gothic design company that Columbia has recently started marketing. With its Gothic style, brocade jackets, and cut velvet dresses, Shrine could really go either way. “They’re not a costume house, and they actually made it to costume shows because their customers insisted on it,” Spaey notes.

In the same roundabout way, Columbia started to carry lingerie. Rather than through the costume department, as one might expect, it actually began through a promotion. Cosmetic company Fabregé offered stockings if the customer purchased a permanent. “It came in this package, with a sample of perfume. It had nothing to do with theater,” recalls Spaey. On the other hand, fishnet stockings were introduced through the costume department, “not as a day-wear item,” and then became part of the lingerie lineup.

The newest fashion/costume victims are the veils, jewelry, and other accoutrements Columbia has set aside for the uptown Kingston belly dancing wave. “It just keeps spinning cycles. It’s hard to keep track of,” Spaey says, and laughs.