Regent Square shop owner faces razor after customers spend $15K online

It took Chris Kaminski more than six months to grow out his thick, reddish-brown beard.

It took his wife, Sarah, less than 10 minutes to shave it down to what she described as a “tastefully disgusting,” gunslinger-style mustache extending from his upper lip to his jaw line.

“This is what a $15,000 mustache looks like,” Kaminski told the live crowd of about 30 who tuned in to the shearing on a Facebook Live broadcast hosted by 3 Rivers Outdoor Company on Monday.

Kaminski co-owns the outdoor shop, located in Pittsburgh’s Regent Square, with business partner Christine Iksic. Like many local businesses owners, they’ve been looking for creative ways to engage their customers and maintain their business while state closures for nonessential businesses related to the coronavirus pandemic are in effect.

In addition to moving sales online, hosting virtual book clubs and preparing to launch a gear review and instruction video series, 3ROC — as the shop is known by its regular customers — also hosted a gift card drive to bolster the shop’s sales, which have dropped by more than half during each of the past two months. The gift cards can be used at the shop at any time.

That effort topped $15,000 over two weeks. In exchange, Kaminski polled customers on their favorite beard style, tallying 123 votes. He has committed to sport the look for at least a week.

“I think it worked, honestly, because we’ve built so many personal relationships with so many people at the shop,” Kaminski said.

3ROC sells outdoor gear. But the shop also hosts regular community events, including movie nights, seminars, kayaking clinics and a weekly trail running club. All of those activities came to a halt as social distancing measures related to the covid-19 outbreak in Pennsylvania were put in place last month.

Customers seemed to have noticed what was missing, Kaminski said.

The gift card drive and beard poll brought the community back together.

“It was almost like we were open,” Kaminski said.

3ROC opened in 2018. Since then, Kaminski and Iksic have been navigating the same growing pains most businesses experience in their early years.

“We’re still trying to get to the point where we know that we’ve made it financially,” Iksic said.

Rent, payroll and startup loans are among their biggest expenses. They’ve applied for federal relief for small businesses, but those programs have been slow to roll out and communication about when those funds might arrive has been scant, she said.

“I don’t know how long we can survive like this,” Iksic said.

3ROC was among the more than 10,000 businesses statewide that applied for a waiver allowing them to operate under the governor’s order. Like many other retail businesses, 3ROC was denied a waiver, Kaminski said.

The state has not released a list of businesses that were granted waivers. Sporting goods, clothing and shoe stores were listed among the businesses that were not allowed to continue physical operations, according to the governor’s order.

The shop has transitioned to online sales and hosting personal gear consultations with customers virtually. A new book club, held over video chat, has grown to more than 20 members.

As the weather clears and more people look to the outdoors for a break from social isolation, both Iksic and Kaminski said they’re hopeful 3ROC will be able come back stronger.

“We opened an outdoor store to build the Pittsburgh outdoor community,” Iksic said. “And it feels like we’ve done that.”