Expertise through Selection and Concentration
Wig N Color, a Brooklyn Wig Spot

Wig N Color is located in the high traffic area, where the terminus of Brooklyn’s L train meets the end of several bus lines. Accessibility is also excellent, with a large parking lot across the street from the store. The graffiti store signage draws the attention of passersby, and the store is well known for specializing in wigs, a rarity these days. There are five other Korean American beauty supply stores on the same street, but Wig N Color has differentiated itself by focusing on its strengths, making wigs its mainstay, a difficult task. We sat down with Business Owner Bohyun Yoon to learn more about his business journey and his knowhows in the specialty wig business.

Mr. Yoon came to Colorado in the Western United States for graduate study in 2001, when the management information systems (MIS) and accounting were gathering a lot of attention. He was already in his late 30s, having graduated from a university in South Korea and worked for 15 years. Being the eldest son in the family, he had planned to return to Korea, but when his wife got a job in New York City, he eventually decided to settle in the U.S.  He didn’t have anyone to ask about beauty supply but overheard that the beauty market was promising, so he got a job at a wholesale company. After a year and a half of experience, he opened his own shop in Brooklyn, which was no small feat. “I regretted it a lot. I thought I had it all figured out, but there was a lot more to learn, and retail was different from wholesale.” Yoon recalls the challenges he faced and says that when he meets someone going through the path he once took, he goes all out for advice and help. “It’s something you can’t help because everyone is doing it for a living,” he says.

Beginnings of Wig N Color

The first shop opened was in Flatbush, Brooklyn, a neighborhood near New York City. He ran a beauty supply store there for almost 15 years, and at the time, the neighborhood had one of the highest concentrations of African Americans in the country, with 20 beauty supply stores in the neighborhood alone. This means that every block has a beauty supply. Suddenly, there came a period of time when the rent doubled or tripled over a three to four year period. As real estate values rose, so did taxes, and locals began to leave. “It’s not just me, a lot of people have left the area. The owners of the shops were also faced with a decrease in customers and had to switch to other businesses.” The current location, known for its good transportation among others, was vacant due to high rent, and after much deliberation, they moved here about five years ago. The neighborhood is composed mostly of black immigrants and has a high concentration of people with steady incomes, such as professionals and government employees. But because the community doesn’t lean toward a particular ethnicity, it’s hard to focus on a specific audience, Mr. Yoon explained. “We can’t have everything, and we have limited space, so we changed our strategy to cater to certain customers we wanted.”

Wig N Color’s strategies for wig specialty

To reflect their focus on wigs, they changed their name from “Beauty Club” to “Wig N Color”. Currently, 70% of revenue comes from pure wig sales, and hair-related products account for 85% of total revenue if you include styling products related to wigs.“Beauty items go up and down in sales, but if you average them out, they’re almost static,” says Mr. Yoon. Wigs, on the other hand, have a huge fluctuation in sales depending on the weather and other factors. Wigs are something we might not sell a single item a day,” he points out. He cites three reasons why wig sales are difficult. First, people don’t know much about wigs. Second, it’s a big inventory burden. Third, it takes up a lot of space. To overcome these challenges, Mr. Yoon made a bold decision to try different things and succeeded in achieving satisfactory results.

1. Transforming the position of the styling station

The facing mirrors create a salon atmosphere. Customers look around the latest products at the front of the store while waiting their turn.

Wig N Color’s styling station is located at the front of the store. While a typical beauty supply store would put the styling station in the back because black customers are reluctant to publicly display themselves taking off hair products, Mr. Yoon opted for a more open approach. He boldly moved the station to the front so that customers could easily see the styling process and feel comfortable asking questions.

Various makeup tools, accessories, or hair pieces were placed next to the station for immediate application and purchase.

Customers who buy a wig from Wig N Color don’t have to do their own styling or visit a salon, everything can be done in the store. It’s not just about styling your hair, but also about matching makeup and jewelry to create the look you want on the spot. This one-stop service is frequently mentioned and raved about in Google reviews. This has resulted in an increase in the amount of money spent per customer.

An employee (on the right) who has worked at Mr. Yoon’s business for six years expressed her satisfaction with the work environment. When asked about Mr. Yoon, she wittily replied, “Lovely boss,” which made everyone laugh.

At Wig N Color, the relationship between the employer and employees is of business partners. Mr. Yoon provides the space and minimum wage, and his employees serve customers, collecting service charges and tips from the customers in return. While some worry that employees will focus on their own self-interest, Mr. Yoon sets clear guidelines that foster trust and smooth collaboration. When a new customer comes in during a styling session, the service priority must be given to the customer who walked in even if it means disruption of the styling service.

Real Google Reviews for Wig N Color

Unlike chemical products, wigs are very trendy. Chemicals are easy to reorder when stock runs low, but wigs are not. Popular and best-selling wigs run out of stock quickly and are almost impossible to reorder. You must stay on top of trends to ensure you have the wigs you need. This is why communicating with black employees is so important. We all have different eyes, so a wig that we think is beautiful may look ugly to a customer. One way to keep up with trends is to have staff who are close to the customers feel the temperature of what styles customers want and stock accordingly. Also, if a customer comes in and then just walks out, you should assume that there is something they are looking for but could not find, so Mr. Yoon tries to engage with the customer for feedback.

5. Honest pricing

The key to selling wigs well these days is an honest pricing policy. Buying cheap and selling at a high margin no longer works, Mr. Yoon says. Recognizing that customers are aware of your cost and going for a reasonable profit margin is important according to Mr. Yoon.

6. Tight inventory management

Mr. Yoon says they have about 1000 mannequins, but only about 60 wig styles are actually selling well at a time. The rest of the wigs are to complement it. Because wigs come in so many different colors and styles, he says, you’re bound to have fewer options if you only carry the best sellers. He emphasizes the importance of inventory management and says it’s the owner’s job to sell wigs at discount that aren’t selling well to get rid of unneeded inventory quickly. Wigs don’t sell by simply stocking them, he added, but they need to be constantly monitored and refreshed.

Dyenasty Robertson, who visited the store to buy and style wigs, frequents Wig N Color because of the large selection and variety of wigs compared to other stores.

The goal is to become even more specialized in wigs

Mr. Yoon aims to make a more specialized wig shop. As the beauty supply market becomes tougher and the number of wig specialty stores shrinks, Mr. Yoon’s differentiation strategy is giving his business a competitive edge. His decisive choices and focus seem to be the driving force behind the store’s success despite the high rents and fierce competition in New York City.