Ricky’s Creates Fun In Cosmetics Category
Ricky’s NYC finds niche with funky fashion accessories and beauty supply chain.
Susan H. Fishman

Ricky’s South Beach location in Miami Beach, Florida.

Ricky’s NYC, a retail chain offering beauty products, professional hair care and unique style and fashion accessories, is a family-owned business that came from a company called Love Drugstores years ago. When the Kenig family sold Love Drugstores, they kept one store in SoHo, called Ricky’s, after son Ricky Kenig. The company began to grow but soon found itself competing with major chains like CVS, Duane Reade and Rite-Aid and decided it was time to find a niche and change its format. So in 1989, Ricky’s went from a drugstore format to a funky, fashion accessories, health and beauty-supply store. The Kenig brothers took in their Love Drugstore partner, Dominick Costello, and the three formed “Ricky’s NYC.”

“We changed the format and every year we ended up trying one store and then another to the point where we were doing two to three stores a year,” says Ricky’s brother, and chairman of the company, Todd Kenig. “Now, we’re looking to do three to five new stores a year.”

Ricky’s location at 8th and Greene Streets in New York City.

Today, Ricky’s NYC has more than 200 employees and a total of 22 locations. Todd has strategically positioned the company to open and operate outside New York City by opening stores in East Hampton, New York, and Miami, Florida.

“We are in all different areas of New York, from the hip and trendy SoHo to the Upper East Side, where the old money is, to the Upper West Side, where you find new money and a hip crowd,” Todd says. “We’re also in Midtown on Fifth Avenue and in the Fashion District.”

Ricky’s NYC is hoping to open nationally, although in the short term will remain close to its roots in areas like Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens and, possibly, New Jersey. Eventually the company would like to open more locations in Florida, as well as Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, according to Todd.

Ricky’s location on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Ricky’s NYC units range from 1,500 to 6,000 square feet, but the ideal store is anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 square feet. The current stores are all street-front locations, but the company is looking at lifestyle centers for future sites.

A typical Ricky’s store is colorful and lively. When a customer walks in, the first thing she sees is 50 to 75 styles of wigs on the wall.

“It’s an eye-candy type of feeling,” says Todd. “Women walk in and get everything they need and something they didn’t need but have to have. It’s just a fun store to shop.”

In 1995, Ricky’s NYC launched Mattese NYC, a private-label cosmetics line with an extensive line of products, including makeup and cosmetic accessories; and Ricky’s Hair Care, a private-label hair accessories line. There’s also Ricky’s Costume Shop, which offers costumes, masks, wigs and Halloween-related merchandise. Collaborating with celebrity stylists, designers and manufacturers around the world, Ricky is spearheading the company’s private labeling initiative procuring major distribution deals nationwide and overseas for a wide range of Ricky’s-branded beauty products.

Inside a typical Ricky’s NYC store.

The store takes risks and is a bit edgier than most beauty supply stores, thanks to a great Halloween offering and a “bachelorette section” with a selection of risqué items.

“Not everybody would want Ricky’s for a tenant because we’re a little progressive, a little hip,” notes Todd. “If you’re looking for a Gap or Banana clientele, that’s not the typical Ricky’s kind of customer. The Ricky’s customer is a more high-end, funky customer. Our demographic is 8-year-old girls to 60-year-old women.”

Todd says shopping centers would want Ricky’s NYC for a tenant because they want something different or to add a little bit of excitement to their bottom line.

“We’re not the basic mom-and-pop shop,” he adds. “Ricky’s is always new; we’re always evolving.”