Friday, June 19, 2009

3 Sister’s Beauty Supply in Plano offers style and respect

By LaToya S. Watkins of North Dallas Gazette

Crawford Family (L to R) Nikki, Kennedy, Kia, Skylar, and Ricky. They also have a son, Shaun, not pictured.

From the cool purple walls to the open ceiling and the tasteful art that adorns the place, one can tell that they have not happened upon the average beauty supply stores when they enter the African American owned business, 3 Sister's Beauty Supply. North Dallas Gazette stopped by and visited with the owners, Ricky and Nikki Crawford three months after the grand opening and found one of the best kept secrets in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

3 Sisters is not the only beauty supply in Plano, but they are the only African American-owned beauty supply in Plano. There are four other beauty supply stores within five to ten miles of 3 Sister's, but they are all Asian owned. Before stopping by 3 Sister's, North Dallas Gazette stopped by two of the other beauty supply stores located on the same street, Parker Road.

Upon entering the first Asian owned store, the North Dallas Gazette reporter found the store representatives to be rude and unhelpful, but the most offensive findings were the high security plasma screens that graced the walls of the store, in order to keep an eye on the patrons -- patrons that are predominantly African American. The other Asian-owned supply store did not have the obvious plasma screens for security, but the woman from behind the counter did step down to follow a few patrons around the store.

Store representatives from both Asian stores were unwilling to make comments to North Dallas Gazette about supply prices to African American suppliers.

African American women spend billions of dollars per year on hair care and hair care products, according to reports from Aron Ranen's Black Hair Documentary. What is disturbing about those figures is that very little of that money goes back into African American communities. Of the hundreds of the beauty supply stores in the DFW, Nikki Crawford listed all of the African American-owned ones that she could think of, and though there were less than 10 that she could recall, she still beamed with pride that there were any at all.

When asked about their inspiration for the beauty supply store, Ricky sighed and commented, "We have three daughters, so Nikki would spend all this money at the beauty supply stores and after every visit she would come home mad about the way that she had been treated. I finally asked her why she spent so much at the stores and she said it was because she didn't have any other choice."

The couple have their struggles with getting supplies from a mostly Asian distribution base, but they are doing their best to work around the struggles of being African American and supplying their own people with the best quality of supplies that are not only affordable, but good for their hair. They were reluctant to admit that they felt they were getting what Nikki called, "the black price" for the products that they order, but they did admit that getting liquid goods has been a lot easier for them than getting hair. "We're still having problems getting hair," Nikki stated. "And we are frustrated with the fact that African Americans are being kept out of an industry that is supported primarily by us [African Americans]."

Nikki says that she has been turned down by the same distributor more times than she can count. She says that the major hair distributor has given her excuses raging from hair shortages to other suppliers being too close to 3 Sister's location. "I don't care," she laughed. "I'm the type that will keep trying and trying until they finally get sick of me. If my customers want a particular brand of hair, I need to get that brand of hair."

Customers will find that some of 3 Sister's prices are a little less expensive than what is offered at other supply stores and that some are a bit more. All prices are comparable, and the Crawford's credit any difference to the rate at which they are being charged for the products by distributors.

Nikki also said that the first mistake that she made as an African American beauty supplier was trying to get all of the products that the Asian market was offering. She found from a few of her customers that they buy what the Asians offer, because nothing else is being offered. So Nikki began to do her research. 3 Sister's now offers Ms. Jessie's, Mixed Chicks, and other products made by African Americans who are very particular about which companies they distribute to. These brands cannot be found at Asian beauty supply stores in Plano at the time.

"We have a request sheet that we urge people to fill out and request their products," Nikki explained. "But that doesn't mean that we will get that particular product. I go out and research those products and find out if they are any good first. I don't want to carry anything that is going to cause my customers' hair to fall out. I care about our hair."

"We tried reaching out to other black-owned beauty supply stores throughout the country to get tips on the business," Ricky stated. "We found that they were unwilling to help and offer information."

"Our hope is that more African American beauty supply stores will surface in the future and we can band together to build relationships with manufacturers and form our own distribution centers. We would save big as suppliers and then we'd be able to pass those saving right on to our customers," Ricky explained.

Nikki followed Ricky's explanation with, "I am willing to share all of the information and knowledge that I have gained so far in the industry to anyone wanting information about owning or opening a black owned beauty supply store."

3 Sister's Beauty Supply is located at 3909 West Parker Rd., Suite 101, Plano. Stop by and visit Ricky and Nikki Monday through Saturday between the hours of 9:30 a.m. - 9 p.m., or on Sundays 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. You can also visit 3 Sister's Beauty Supply online at www.3sistersbeautysupply.com.

Pegasus News content partner - North Dallas Gazette

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• Fashion / Beauty Industry
• Fashion / Beauty

Comments

Travis Bush Verified

"Store representatives from both Asian stores were unwilling to make comments to North Dallas Gazette about supply prices to African American suppliers."

What on earth would they know about that? Not sure why one would expect them to be helpful when the author of the article obviously had issues with their businesses in the first place.

One would think this kind of company would get support and advice from companies like Pro-Line, but just like the Asian beauty supply store owners, what do I know?

4 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

DC Anonymous

It's everybody hates everybody day!

Maybe this article could be improved by targeting specific Asians, like Koreans, for example.

4 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )