For our amazing customers,

It’s with sadness that we let you know that we will be closing The Copper Hat at the end of August.

A quick story:

We opened our first brick-and-mortar retail store location in Fan Tan Alley, Victoria in the summer of 2013.  One night (there were many late nights getting that first space ready for customers), we cracked open a fortune cookie. The fortune read, “A Thrilling Time is Ahead for You”. And was it ever! The Copper Hat has been nothing if not a thrill! The highs have been the best; the lows have been devastating, and every single day has been a lesson learned. To this day, we agree that The Copper Hat is the best thing we have ever done.

We feel incredibly lucky to have met so many wonderful, supportive and interesting people on The Copper Hat path.  Whether you are a customer, fellow vendor, small-business owner, market coordinator, family member or someone else who has cheered us on along the way, THANK YOU! It means the world to us that you were part of the journey with us.

There is a good reason we kept a bar stool at our store counter; we loved talking to you and wanted to invite you to sit. You might not even know it, but you changed our lives. You didn’t just tell us about your struggle with drug store shaving supplies. You shared with us about your life and listened to us about ours. That doesn’t happen in every job, so we consider ourselves very lucky.

Over the past 2 years we have almost closed The Copper Hat multiple times, but we just couldn’t do it. When we started in 2009 it was really difficult to source a good quality razor, shaving brush or natural shave soap. These days, there are so many more options and wet shaving is no longer a mystery to the masses! So we’re ready to let it go and move on to pursue our other goals.

What this means for you:

If you are in need of a stock up, please get your order in soon. We’ll be working hard to fill orders, but most items on our website will not be restocked when they sell out. Here’s the details:

Shave Soap Refill Pucks – we will continue making refill pucks until the end of August and will fill all orders. If you store your refill pucks in a cool, dark space, they will last for at least 1 year. After that, the scent will diminish, but you can still use them.

Razor Blades – we will continue to restock until the end of August, but please place your order early. If a blade is not in stock on our website, we are no longer able to get it (sorry folks ☹). We hate to say it, but if you can’t find razor blades locally, look on Amazon.

Tins of Shave Soap – we have a very limited number of tins remaining and they will not be restocked once they are sold. But remember, you can put a refill puck into any container (latte mugs work great!) to make your own personalized lathering bowl!

The Journey Shaving Brush – We have discovered some badger hair knots in our stash, so have created a small number of Special Edition badger hair Journey brushes (we haven’t used badger hair since 2019, so these ones are rare) that are now listed on our site. We have a few synthetic versions available as well.

Anthony Gold items – sadly, after decades of manufacturing excellent, natural barbering products, Anthony Gold is no longer in production. Luckily, Carina Organics is the same company, and we highly recommend their Hydrating Skin Cream if you’re looking for something to replace the Cool Mint Balm. It doesn’t have a menthol kick, but other than that, it is a very similar formula.

Vintage Collection – we’ve been collecting vintage razors, aftershave bottles, and all kinds of wet shaving and barbering items for over a decade. We’ve given it a lot of thought, and it’s time to let that collection go. You can see what we have for sale on the Vintage section of our website.

Everything Else – what you see on the website is what we have left, and we will not be restocking items (other than soap refill pucks and blades). Please know that we didn’t make this decision lightly (it took us more than 2 years to make it) and we wish you all the best in your wet shaving journey 😊

If you have any questions or something you’d like us to know, you can reach us at info@thecopperhat.ca Our email response times will likely be a little slow as we work to fill orders. We’ll send a few more emails this month to remind you that we’re closing, so if you’re not interested, definitely unsubscribe 😊

Once again, thank you for being part of The Copper Hat journey. We wish you all the best on yours.

With massive gratitude,

Kate & Brad

In our store in Market Square (circa sometime between 2014 and 2020! Who knows, time flies!)

Moving the sign from our store in Fan Tan Alley when we moved to Market Square (circa 2014)

Shipping – Frequently Asked Questions:

How do you ship orders? We ship all orders Expedited with Canada Post. Why? Because for businesses, Expedited shipping costs the same as Standard shipping, so it’s no more expensive for you. At this time of year we expect that many orders are gifts, so to help keep that a surprise, our return address labels do not say “The Copper Hat”.

Why don’t you offer free shipping? Well…. we offer subsidized shipping. For example, for us to ship from Edmonton to most major cities in Western Canada it costs us between $17 and $20. We charge you, the customer, $9 of that. To offer completely free shipping, we’d have to raise our product prices, and we’ve chosen not to do that.

How long will it take my order to arrive? Currently orders take between 1 and 4 business days to reach major cities in Western Canada. If you’re not in a major city in Western Canada, it will take a few days longer. If you’re east of Saskatchewan, especially if you’re on the East Coast, please get your orders in quick so they have time to get to you!

Where to Find Us this Season

We will be set up at the Edmonton Christmas Market at Fort Edmonton on Dec 10, 17 & 18 from noon to 9pm (our booth will be in the airplane hangar. Discover captivating light displays, unique culinary experiences, roving performances, festive live theatre, family-friendly workshops, a local market of 100+ rotating vendors, tasty treats, and a whole lot of holiday cheer! Learn more and buy tickets here.

Our Stockists

If you’re not in Edmonton, our many stockists carry a variety of our products in addition to their other awesome gift ideas. Go check them out if they’re in your community!

Zero Waste Emporium, Victoria, BC

Market Collective, Victoria, BC and Saanich, BC

Vancouver Island Refillery, Nanaimo, BC

plentiFILL Cowichan, Duncan, BC

Little Bird, Duncan, BC

The Hub Refillery, Delta, BC

Jade Refillery, Jasper, AB

Jar’d Mercantile, Leduc, AB

Greenbriar Market and Refillery, Calgary, AB

High Noon Barber, Saskatoon, SK

Thank you for supporting our small business! To show our appreciation, we’re offering a free shaving gift on every order of $50 or more, while supplies last!

When you place an order of $50 or more, enter one of these 3 coupon codes to let us know which free gift you’d like included with your order:

bladebank – an aluminum storage bank to safely hold your used razor blades
razorstand – a heavy duty yet sleek stand for displaying your safety razor (*this is the stand only, not the razor*)
alumblock – a natural and unscented aftershave bar that disinfects nicks and closes the pores

If your order is $100 or more, you can enter 2 coupon codes and we’ll include 2 gifts!

In 2010 we set up The Copper Hat at our first craft show in Sidney, BC.  Since then, we’ve been to countless outdoor markets, craft shows, music festivals, community events and have set up shop in several different spaces in Downtown Victoria, most recently, Market Square. What a journey!

We’ve been operating solely online since the end of September, and it’s not going too bad! We definitely miss the interaction with clients in the store and being able to chat with folks in person though – that was the best part of the job 😀

But after almost a year of operating The Copper Hat online and taking a lot of time to think, we’ve decided on some big changes.  So here goes…. we are moving off of Vancouver Island for the time being to pursue some other adventures and goals!

The great thing is, no matter where we are in this country, we can connect with clients through our website and by phone, and ship orders as usual!

What does this mean for you?

If you don’t live in the greater Victoria area, nothing changes for you.  You can still place your order on the website as usual and we will ship it within 1-3 days.

If you live in Victoria and have been using the $3 local delivery option, that will change (since we won’t be here).  For you, we highly recommend checking out the amazing local businesses Zero Waste Emporium (1728 Douglas St) and Market Collective by Shi (in The Bay Centre and at Mattick’s Farm) to find your Copper Hat gear!  Market Collective carries our tins of soap, Journey shaving brushes, and beard oils and Zero Waste Emporium carries our refill soap pucks and they have a variety of other shaving gear.

We’d also be very happy and grateful if you continue to place orders on our website 🙂  Your shipping price will go up a few dollars, but we try to keep things as reasonable as possible.  If you’d like to take advantage of the $3 local delivery price, it will stay the same for folks in the Victoria area until early July, when we move.

As we move forward, our aim is to connect with more local retailers across the country so that you can find your Copper Hat supplies in-person – we hope to reach out to you in the future to ask about your favourite local shops that might be a good fit for our gear!

Thank YOU!!!

Whether we met you at a craft show, in the store, or through our website, you are a part of our Copper Hat journey – thank you very much for that.  It has been a privilege to operate a retail store and meet so many of you.  The stories you’ve shared in the store are honestly what has kept us going over the years.  You’ve inspired us to get out there, move around, and meet more folks as we continue on our adventure, wherever that may lead!

Hi Everyone.  We’ve been putting this off because it’s a tough one to write.

On September 27, we will be closing our doors in Market Square (for real this time) and going online.

Like everyone else, we have felt the effect of COVID-19 on our business.  To ensure that we can keep The Copper Hat going and supply you with your shaving gear needs, we’ve decided to transition to online/over the phone only.  While we love the human interaction that comes with the store (in fact, it’s our favourite part of the job!), it’s extremely difficult now to make that happen in a calm and relaxed environment.

We have been in Market Square for over 6 years, and Downtown for more than that (anyone remember our shop in Fan Tan Alley or Rock Bay Square?).  We love Downtown and we firmly believe that supporting owner-operated, small, local businesses is crucial to keep the community vibrant.  We have pledged to shop Downtown for as many of our needs as we are able to and we hope that folks that have that option join in. 

Thank You!

We are so grateful for YOUR support over the years – YOU GUYS keep us going.  The conversations we have in the store are hilariously varied and cover every topic we can imagine!  Seriously, seeing you walk into the store with a smiling face, pumped to get new shave soap or explaining to us how good your shave is makes our day.  Continuing the conversation onto motorcycles, mental health, sustainability, outdoor pursuits, art… that lights us up.  We don’t take it for granted that we have had the opportunity to run a business in this way.  It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and wow, it has been phenomenal.  In some ways, the amazing human interaction we’ve had through The Copper Hat is why we are doing this. We both have so many interests and passions and I’m sure it’s not a shock to you that running your own business, especially a brick-and-mortar one, doesn’t allow for a lot of extra time.

We are excited to spend more time on new projects, volunteering, and just being involved in our community.   So much of what we are interested in has arisen from conversations with you, so thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for that.

So what does this mean for you and your shaving supplies? 

Well, we hope to make the transition as pain free as possible. The Copper Hat has been an online store for over a decade and a lot of our clients have never set foot in Market Square.  We ship orders all over the world several times a week and know how to pack up shave soap, razors and body butter as well as we tie our shoes (perhaps, better?!).  Starting in October (or you can start now if you’d like!), you can browse through your favourite shaving supplies on our website, www.thecopperhat.ca  You can place your order online and pay with a credit card or PayPal.  Or, if online shopping isn’t your jam, give us a call or send us an email and we’ll take your order that way and you can pay with an e-transfer.  If none of these payment options work for you, please call us – we are committed to making sure you get what you need!  Once you’ve paid for your order, we will deliver it to you in/around Victoria, or ship it to you through Canada Post.  We did this throughout the COVID-19 shutdown and it worked very well.  Some folks have asked about picking up their orders – this is something we will work on, but will not be available right away in October.

If you’ve made it this far through this note, thank you!  Please hang onto this coupon code:  OCTOBER5 – it’s good for $5 off any order you place on our website in the month of October.

So once again, yes, this sucks, but if we’ve learned anything doing what we do, it’s that life is a journey with a lot of ups and downs. 

We hope that you and yours are well.  Please stay in touch, and if you have the time, drop by in Market Square before Sept. 27.  We’re open Thursday to Sunday. Otherwise, we hope to see you out in the community or on the website.

Take care of yourselves and thank you for everything you have done for us,

Kate & Brad

We’re Re-Opening the Store!

Hi folks, we hope you are all doing well! We recognize that these past few months have been challenging for everyone, and that for many people, things continue to be difficult. While we may simply be the place you pick up your favourite shave soap, we hope that we can bring a little bit of fun and smooth skin back in to your life 🙂

Since March, we’ve be operating The Copper Hat through our website and we’ve been shipping and delivering orders several times a week. We’d like to give a huge thank you to everyone who placed an order online in the past few months!

New Hours

Mon-Wed: Closed | Thurs: 11am-4pm | Fri-Sun: 11am-5pm

The Store has a New Look!

As you’ve likely experienced, our store space in Market Square is very small. At the best of times, it is tricky to fit multiple people inside. You also know that our business involves a lot of picking things up, trying products on, smelling soap and aftershave – it’s a hands-on experience! Sadly, it’s hands-on no more. So in an effort to keep everyone safe and limit handling of products, we’ve reconfigured the store to be more of a pickup window. Yep, it’s like walk-by shaving supplies… Nope, it’s not why we started this business, but it is what it is!

All of our products are now displayed in the front window. You come up to the counter at the front of the store, let us know what you’d like, and we’ll get it packed up for you. If you think of it like an ice cream parlor it’s less sad and more fun!

This means we’ll have a little less time for skin assessments and answering shaving-related questions in the long-winded and detailed ways you know us best for. The good news, we still have our website and we’re happy to help you through email or over the phone if you need to have a longer chat about your shaving routine.

And about the Website…

We have been pleasantly surprised with how effective moving all of our business online and over the telephone has been. It’s not perfect, but it works really quite well (many folks don’t know this, but we had a web store well before we ever set up at a market booth or had a brick-and-mortar store)!

If you find getting Downtown to be a challenge or would prefer to order your shaving supplies from home, PLEASE DO! We will continue to ship and deliver orders several times a week. How we arrange local deliveries may change slightly as we move forward, but it has been a great success over the past several months.

Alternatively, if you know what you need and would like to do a quick pick up, just place you order online and we’ll let you know when it’s ready to pick up at the store.

One More Thing…

Skip this part if you’re just here for the shaving supplies 😉

We’ve addressed this in some earlier social media posts, but think it’s worth repeating… many small and micro businesses, including us, have been unassisted through the COVID-19 pandemic (we acknowledge that many folks have had it much more difficult than we do and will continue to be challenged moving forward).

As an owner-operated micro business, The Copper Hat is ineligible for the federal wage subsidy. By keeping our website open, we generated enough revenue to disqualify us from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program (CECRA), but lost over 65% of our income. This is not an unusual position to be in – it is happening to small businesses across the city and the country. We closed our doors to keep people safe, lost the majority of our income, and have continued to pay our bills, most notably, our rent on empty store fronts throughout the pandemic. Why mention this? Because it’s true and it’s our story. If you’re reading this and you take an interest, reach out, we’d love to hear from you if you have any thoughts on the situation (not just ours, but the struggle of small businesses everywhere right now).

Thank You!

To everyone who has met us at a market, a craft show, Rock Bay Square, Fan Tan Alley, Market Square or through the website – THANK YOU! Yes, we sell shaving products, but seriously, we are here for the PEOPLE!

Take care,

Brad and Kate

Well this has been quite the ride… 

First off, we hope you are well.  We know we’re just the shaving shop, but we really do hope you’re doing ok.  It’s been a bumpy couple of months and whether you’ve been impacted a little or a lot, we wish you well.

Next up, an update on our store.  You’ve likely heard that some retails shops are opening back up in BC this week. We’ve thought long and hard about this one, and have decided that because our store space is tiny and it lacks running water, we can’t open back up safely.  Physical distancing inside our store is impossible and hand washing requires us to lock up the store each time as there is no washroom on site.  We pride ourselves on giving you top notch service and allowing you to pick up razors, smell shave soaps and try on aftershaves and body butters – it appears that those things are no longer in the cards.  This decision is a big one for us, because we continue to pay rent on our storefront as we have throughout the pandemic.

The good news: as always, we have our web store and our telephone! Our website contains all of our products and lot of extra shaving info.  For folks adverse to the internet (don’t worry, we get it!), give us a call – we’ll happily help you choose the shaving supplies that are right for you. 778-433-4626

How will you get your stuff, you ask?
We continue to offer free delivery in and around the greater Victoria area! For all other orders in Canada, we charge a flat rate of $5. When you place your order, the option applicable for your address will appear.

Thank you for supporting us over the years! Whether online, in the store, or at a market, we truly appreciate you coming along with us on this journey.  We’d also like to thank the folks who have placed orders with us these past 2 months.  We honestly had no idea what would happen when we locked up the store on March 15th and we are so grateful that orders have still been coming in. Thank you!

Big Saving on Imperfect Journey Sets

Stock Up on Shave Soap

Growing Out That Quarantine Beard?

A few of our thoughts ….

COVID-19 has affected almost everyone, and in many different ways.  All we can speak to is what it’s like to be an owner-operated micro business right now.  We are lucky and we are privileged to own our own business, live in our home, buy food to eat, and take care of our health.  We know this is not the case for many people. We understand that sometimes there is no choice when it comes to shopping, but if you are in a position to choose where you shop, please shop small.  Amazon will come through this just fine.  Many small businesses will not.  Like us, many small businesses rent space from property owners who have not deferred rent payments or taken advantage of the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program.  This means that while store fronts have been empty and sales have been low or non-existent, tenants have been paying the full rent on spaces they cannot use.  Also like us, many owner-operated small businesses are not eligible for the federal wage subsidy or CERB. 

Why mention this?  Because shopping small helps, a lot.  It doesn’t take much to make or break a family run business in your community.  If you can, try to source from a local shop rather than Amazon – it make a big difference and it’s how we protect our local economies and communities. 

We hope you are doing well and we hope to see you in the future in some form or another! Please drop us a line by email or give us a call if you have any questions or just want to chat – we miss you!

Take care,

Brad & Kate

March 18, 2020

Given the COVID19 situation, our physical store will be closed for the time being. We are very fortunate to have our online store and we will be shipping orders purchased on the website as we normally do.

If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send an email to info@thecopperhat.ca We are here to answer your questions and help you choose the best shaving supplies for you!

This is a wild and crazy time, and we’ll take it step-by-step. We’ll miss seeing you all in person in the store.

Take care,

Kate & Brad