Bonika expands to Korea

Friday we intertained Nam at our office who was visiting from South Korea with his translator. Nam and Brooke confront at the office and some communication needs no language. Brooke is 7 months old.

We knew Nam was coming but did not know why. He went home with 3 machines and promised to be back at the sharpener's Jam in July.

New Baby Pictures

Please excuse me if I publish the newest pictures of Brooke who is now 3 months old. This is the youngest daughter of Mystie and Jay our daughter and son-in-law who work with us here at Bonika Shears.

We are getting ready for the Sharpener's Jam this week-end followed soon by Bronner Brothers then Expo Latino the Sharp and Shop ... all within 30 days! I also have 3 trainings scheduled for this week. However we are never too busy for the children and grandchildren. The two oldest grandchildren age 3 and 2 are having a slumber party here tonight then are going to church with us on Sunday. Everyone is coming over tonight for a cook-out. Life is good.

Tim Lau Visit

We had a visit from the famous Tim Lau. Tim is a sharpener in Wisconsin and a former emplyee of Bonika Shears. He always comes by for a visit when he comes to Georgia to see his family. We put Tim to work while he was here. He sharpened a left handed shear for us, cut the hair of the grandaughters, went with us to have their birthday pictures taken and combed their hair between photo shots and quieted a crying baby Brooke. It was good to see you Tim. We also use him to bounce business ideas off because of his knowledge of hair cutting. Tim won't make the Sharpener's Jam this year, but maybe next. You may remember Tim as the guy on the Sharpening 101 video with the optivisor.

Here's a picture of Tim cutting Autumn's hair in the stock room. Autumn is Mystie and Jay's oldest child. Look at the evil look on her face. This is the same look you would get from Mystie when customers are late paying. Be glad we don't have camera phones!

June Newsletter

We are mailing the newest newsletter. For those who did not get it, and for those who want a jump on the mail, this is the content of the newsletter.

Note: These prices are for our sharpeners / distributors. They are not for hair stylists unless they are selling our shears. If you are a stylist and wish to become a sharpener / distributor, please contact us. Prices subject to change without notice.

• Congratulations to Mystie & Jay Hunter on the birth of their new daughter, Brooke Anslee Hunter April 21, 2008. 8lbs
  She is fine, healthy, beautiful and sleeps through the night.
• Sharpeners Jam. See all the details at www.sharpenersjam.com Let us know if you are coming. BOOK YOUR ROOM EARLY! Call 770-476-2022 or 1-800-HOLIDAY and tell them you are with the Bonika Shears Sharpener's Seminar. The room rates are $79.00 per night. This is the only charge unless you are taking one of the small clinic classes. Currently there is room in all the classes, but register now because they filled up last year.
• New Shear ... Twister Sister
  Forged, quality Japanese steel with smooth rotating thumb and finger. This is an extremely comfortable shear and is ideal for point cutting, slithering and more. It will be debuted at the Premiere Orlando Show this year. Comes in 5”, 5.5” and 6” MSRP $410.00, Sale Price $329.00 Wholesale $165.00.
• International Lefty This is the same style with butterfly even handles as the old International Lefty with a couple of changes, the screw mechanism is still gold, but an improved style, the shear is cast 440C Japanese steel , it comes in 2 sizes now and the price dropped. 5.5” and 6.”, MSRP $249.00, Sale Price $199.00 Wholesale $99.50 (No price change on other International models)
• Shoto Thinner Due to the success of the Shoto, we now have a matching thinning shear. Limited number in stock. MSRP $1199.00 Sale $899.00 Wholesale $449.00
• BabylissPro Specials
  · Buy the most popular Nano Titanium Medium Iron and get the Forfex 653 Cordless Clipper Free. 6/box. $71.50 each.
  · Vacation Time! Babyliss Ceramic Travel Dryer Folds for storage. $11.00 each 6/box
  · NEW! BabylissPro 6” mini ceramic flat iron. Heats to 420◦ Only 1/2” wide, gets close to the scalp. #CT3050 Salon Price $29.99, Wholesale $16.50 each. 6 /box.
• Josh Freund of Chicago calls on a lot of nail salons. He gave us two tips. The nail nippers on closeout he found to be of a good quality but he was most impressed with the price. He says he buys them to sell as nippers or to use the parts if needed since the nippers cost the same as the springs alone. He also found the manicurists like the Sumo Shear Oil for cuticles. The Camilla Oil in our containers is pure enough to use on the skin and those in the know realize this oil packaged for skin care can cost many times more. Next time you use this oil, swipe some on your nail beds for smoother, healthier cuticles!
• Specials, New Items, Changes and Discontinued
  NEW! SUMO SHEAR OIL MSRP $5.00, Sale price $4.00. Wholesale $2.00each or 12 for $18.00.
  New! Nail Nipper Closeout Second quality, would have sold for $30.00 retail. $2.00 ea or 24 for $36.00
  NEW! Lefty Silk Twister with blue screw hardware 5 3/4” length #TW575J MSRP $250.00 Sale $199.00 Wholesale $99.50.
  Nika Shears NKLB45, NKLB5, NKLB55, NKLBT These are the only Nika Models 440C SUS Japanese steel, MSRP $122.00 Sale $98.00
  Discontinued Shears NK5, NK5.75, NKe5, NKe6, NKeL5, NKeL6, NK55.
  New EDT Scissors for Carpal Tunnel MSRP $400.00, Sale price $319.00 Wholesale $200.00. No discounts.
  Discontinued All International Twisters. All Prisms. We still have a supply but when they are gone, they are gone.
  Coming Soon! 25 Tooth Texturizer like the T14 Wisper and T7 Chopper. Super smooth and nice. Wholesale $99.00
  Shoto Special Orders. If your customer wants them, you can special order Shoto Lefty and Shoto Fishbone. Ask for payment in advance and tell them the wait may be several months since they are custom made.
  Change. Some Silk Twisters and Curve Shears have the beautiful blue hardware. All will be blue in the future.
  Change. The Cutlass Razor has been renamed the Silver Sword. Some stylists thought “Cutlass” meant it didn’t cut.
• New
  
  updated Nickel Brochure. We update this one every couple of months. At a nickel each you can afford to leave one behind with every customer. Slap your label over our company information for your own brochure. Order in quantities, we’ll print more!
  
  
  Reminder: Mail in your Shoto entries by July 1! Drawing will be at the Jam session. If your customer’s name is drawn and you are present, you will win a Shoto, too. If Gene Megowan’s customer is drawn he plans to donate his Shoto back to a second drawing among Bonika distributors present at the Jam session. So send in your entries and don’t miss the Sharpener's Jam!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Coming Events

I haven't posted but will try to be more diligent. We stay so busy but there are so many things happening with our company this year that I need to annouce and chronicle them.

1. Baby is due. Probably next Wednesday the 23 which is when the doctor will induce if baby Brooke is not born. Not my baby. For those who don't know me, my daughter Mystie is my office manager and her husband is my sharpening manager. It's her second baby that is due. Being a family business it disrupts things, but we are excited about the new bundle of joy.
2. IBS New York. We will leave on Friday (2 days after the birth) and have two booths and two classes there. If you are coming to the show stop by our booths. Also catch the classes. Sheila Tate is teaching classes. She has a great DVD coming out that will be available for wholesale by the middle of May. Its Barbering for the Cosmetologist. She taught this class at the Miami International Hair Show last week end and will teach it again in Orlando for the Premiere Show. I think her DVD will sell very well.
3. Phasing in new shears and phasing out old ones. We are switching manufactuers for some shears, discontinuing the slower selling ones and replacing with new designs and completely revamping some of our other shears. We are excited about the new items. Any left over old models we will sell at a discounted wholesale price at the Sharpener's Jam in July. We are working now on some great bargain boxes for the shapeners who attend.
4. Back in stock, if you were waiting for them T14. Also take a look at the new EDT Shear and tell me what you think. We will be distributing this shear.
5. Last item today is the Kuda Workshop We were asked to speak on how to sell shears. I will be taking the seminar and using Lenny's machine. I thought it was impolite to bring and market ours. I'm intrigued to use it. We will also be certifying sharpeners for our Bonika Shears. We will probably bring some discounted Jazzys for sharpeners to certify on and possilby some texturizers and a Fishbone. for directions on sharpening a Fishbone click here.