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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Bottling Happiness

George Schaeffer’s job is to make women happy. At least that’s how Schaeffer, CEO and Founder of North Hollywood-based OPI Products Inc., describes his job — the best part of it, anyway. He’s not wrong. As head of one of the world’s most renowned brands of nail lacquers and products, Schaeffer and his team aim to please millions of women every day — not an easy task. But with more than 30 years in the business, hundreds of lacquer colors, dozens of product patents, customers spanning more than 100 countries worldwide, and some $300 million in annual sales, it’s safe to say he’s got the nails business down to a science. Schaeffer knows it, too. Touring OPI’s 10-acre North Hollywood campus, Schaeffer isn’t even phased by the potent smell of chemicals and the loud clanging of heavy machinery. “That’s the smell of money,” Schaeffer said. “And that sound? I hear ‘cha ching, cha ching.” Schaeffer, a Hungarian-born immigrant who started the company as a dental supply business in 1981, created a global brand that he claims brought the term “nail lacquer” to the U.S. from Europe and quickly charmed women with memorable polish colors names such as “I’m Not Really a Waitress”. His long-time business partner, OPI Vice President and Creative Director Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, is the color expert who sets fashion trends, not only for the company, but for much of the fashion world. Schaeffer sold OPI to Coty Cosmetics in December 2010 for an undisclosed amount. And the company has shown no signs of slowing down. OPI has since expanded its workforce, now employing about 500 workers, and has grown its business by more than 35 percent. Schaeffer and Weiss-Fischmann aren’t slowing down either. Schaeffer is traveling the world half the year as an ambassador for the brand, while balancing corporate paperwork, charity work and all the other work that, as CEO of an entrepreneurial-run operation, he handles on a daily basis. On a recent afternoon, Weiss-Fischmann was glued to her workspace where containers of decorated artificial nails and jars of lacquer pile up in dazzling heaps. As she quietly hovers over her latest project — next year’s color collection — in her white lab coat, Weiss-Fischmann chuckles at the thought of retirement. “I don’t know what I would do on Monday” she says. Schaeffer shares the same sentiment. Every day is a new adventure and work at OPI is more of a hobby than a job, he says. Question: Tell me about how you started the company. Answer: I moved here in 1981. I purchased a dental supply house. It was about 1,200 square feet. I realized very quickly I didn’t like dealing with dentists. I had manicurists coming in to buy dental acrylic for porcelain nails. They paid retail and they were a lot prettier than dentists. I realized there was an opportunity and a demand. I put out a product by October (of 1981). I was giving it away on Ventura Boulevard. It was a monomer, polymer and a liquid powder which is a primer-the standard thing for acrylic nails. The manicurists started coming back because they liked the product. Q: Did you ever imagine your product would become what it is today? A: I thought it had possibilities. Suzi came out the following year. We started to grow the business and we developed professional products. We started to grow restless and realized we were missing the fashion side. The only place you could really touch color was with nail polish. I didn’t want to do polish. I wanted to do lacquer, which has a certain kind of quality. It’s much deeper and much more pigmented. I always wanted to put out a good product, an honest product with a fair price. A lot of what I saw wasn’t really that great. Title: CEO and President of OPI Products Age: 64 Birthplace: Hungary College: City College of New York Personal: Married, two children Q: How did you come up with the name OPI? A: That’s a story in itself. The dental supply house that I bought was called Davis Dental Supply or DDS. It was very cute but it was owned by a guy called Davis. It was purchased by my uncle who had a company called Odontorium Products Incorporated —OPI. When I was thinking about a name for the company there was a Super Nail, Creative Nail, Happy Nail, this nail, that nail. I said ‘OPI is good. Let’s call it OPI.’ I always feel marketing-wise, it’s not important what you call it. As long as people ask you what it is. As long as you catch peoples’ eyes. And, that’s really what happened. Q: Your lacquers are known for their unusual names such as “I’m Not Really a Waitress” and “Teal the Cows Come Home.” How do you come up with these names? A: We drink a lot. For the main collections we have a committee that comes up with the names. Then we pass legal (procedures), which is the biggest hurdle, to make sure no one else has the name. Usually we come up with unique names. It’s kind of cool. Q: Who has final approval on the names? A: The lawyer. Usually out of 12 names in the collection, he beats us up on one or two. Q: Before you were acquired by Coty I understand you were approached by several companies. What led to your final decision to sell the company? A: As they said on the Godfather — we got an offer we couldn’t refuse. Also, my children had other interests. So, sometimes you have to make business decisions. Q: How has business changed under Coty’s ownership? A: It’s a lot of corporate stuff-reports and stuff, which I’m not very used to. It’s kind of nuts. In essence it’s been a very interesting takeover. Nobody came in because of Coty and nobody left because of Coty. So, that’s been a blessing. Q: Has the acquisition allowed you to grow even more? A: We’ve grown since they took over some of the retail functions. We’re getting used to each other. My biggest concern is to leave the business here in California and salvage the jobs. If anything we’ve added about 50 to 60 jobs within the last year. Our business has grown over 35 percent since they took over and it’s still growing. Q: What were your average sales last year? A: We’re approaching about $300 million. Generally the nail business grew about 25 percent. It’s the biggest single increase in cosmetics. Last year, nail polish sales surpassed lipstick which is really unbelievable. Nail polish and lacquer is the affordable luxury today. That’s the thing-you can do your nails every other day depending on your mood. That’s really what has allowed us to grow as an industry. Q: In recent years, the nail products industry has consolidated quite a bit. What are your thoughts on this? A: In terms of innovation, it is important to have competition. I think there’s always room for new ideas. Q: The Valley is a hub of sorts for the beauty industry. What are your views on the business climate here? A: I refer to the Valley as the Long Island of Los Angeles. I think it’s a great place. The weather’s nice and the workforce is second to none. There’s easy transportation. I’m very happy working here, and Coty is happy with us working in the Valley. I just took additional space and I’m renewing leases. Q: Do you worry about what will happen to the company once you retire? A: Not really. I don’t plan to leave the company high and dry. I still love what I’m doing and I must say I’m not doing it for the money. I enjoy being with the employees and I enjoy innovating. Q: Are you disappointed that your children did not want to go into the business? A: I worked with my father so I understand the concept and I left him because I didn’t see a future in manufacturing clothing in Manhattan. My relationship with my parents was good but, towards the end, it was almost business. I didn’t want that to happen with my kids. You can’t force your child to do what you’re doing if they don’t want to do it. The reality is 80 percent of businesses never make it to the second generation. So am I sad? I guess I’m more realistic and I accept the reality. I think the company’s very good and in a way this is my family also. Q: Tell me about Nicole by OPI Is it named after your daughter? A: Yes. She was 12 years old. We couldn’t’ think of a logo so I said “sit down and write your name.” (The brand) features a different formula with quicker drying. It has different colors and is skewed a little bit younger-different bottle different cap. The line started in the professional world and was more expensive but it couldn’t compete with OPI After many years of trying to push it in the salon world, I gave up. But, I had two million bottles. A friend of mine was selling some other products to Target. He said “give me 24 bottles.” That was about four years ago. We’re in 27,000 doors now. Nicole by OPI is becoming a significant brand. Q: If you were to guess how many bottles of nail polish you produce here what would it be? A: One and a half million bottles a day. Q: What’s your favorite part of the job? A: Creating new things. I love making my employees happy. Right now, charity is my favorite part. We give away a lot of money. I think about where I came from. We came here in 1956 from Hungary and we had nothing. Today, look at what we have. We have a brand which is really a dream of mine. I didn’t steal anything, I didn’t take anything. I make women happy. People ask me what I do and I say ‘I make women happy.’ Very few people really can say that in their lifetime. I wouldn’t change a thing. Q: Do you get your nails done regularly? A: There’s only one thing I do for my nails. Every morning I put Avoplex oil on. My nails are pretty darn good. When I bring new products on, I try everything. But, normally I don’t have the time (to do my nails). It’s like a shoemaker with holes in his shoes. Q: What’s your favorite nail polish color? A: Any color the customer buys. OPI Red I would say is a classic. It’s a beautiful blueish red. It was in the original collection. But, I love every color we put out. Suzi does an incredible job. Q: So what’s next for the company? What big things do you have planned for this year? A: The biggest development in the nail world, which is really a game changer, is gel color. We came a little bit later into the market. I was not happy with the products out there. So, we developed our own product. We have our own unique manufacturing in that and we’re going to have some patents. The acceptance has been beyond incredible. Gel color has been a very strong plan all along and I think what we have is second to none. That’s going to be a huge thing for us this year. Every year something comes out of the box. Gel color will stay out of the box and the growth is going to be incredible. For the professional industry, it’s really a professional product. Q: When was the last time you took a day off? A: Every day is a day off. This is a hobby. I haven’t worked in years.

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