A Day at the Markets: What Happens When You Can Actually Smell the Perfume
I make everything in a workshop in the Southern Highlands. Quiet, methodical, usually just me. Then every weekend I load up the car and drive to The Rocks Markets in Sydney, and it's the opposite of quiet. Hundreds of people. Conversations all day. And the thing that makes it completely different from selling online: people can actually smell the perfume.
That changes everything.
Setting Up at 6am
The stall goes up the same way every time. Brushes and razors on one side, perfumes on the other, soaps in the middle. I've got the layout dialled in now — it's less about looking pretty and more about letting people pick things up. That's the whole point of a market stall. Nobody wants to look at products behind a barrier. They want to hold the brush, feel the weight of the razor, turn the bowl over and see the timber grain.
The complete shaving kit always goes front and centre. It's the thing that stops people walking past. They see the brush, the bowl, the razor all together and they get it immediately — this is a proper kit, not a department store gift pack.
The Perfume Moment
This is the thing I can't replicate online, and it's the reason the markets matter so much.
Someone walks past, they're curious, they pick up a tester strip. I'll usually suggest Enigma first — passionfruit, vanilla and tonka bean. It's the one that gets the biggest reaction. People's faces change. They weren't expecting that from a market stall.
Then they start working through the range. Azure for something fresh and clean. Ember for warmth. Phantom for the people who like things sharp and woody. Every conversation is different because everyone's nose is different. I can explain notes and ingredients all day on a website, but nothing replaces the moment someone finds the scent that clicks for them.
That's how most of my perfume customers start. They smell it at the markets, they buy a 10ml traveller to try for a week, and then they come back online for the full bottle. It's a trust thing — perfume is personal, and you need that first moment to happen in real life.
The Conversations You Don't Get Online
A bloke came up a few weeks ago and told me he'd been using cartridge razors his whole life and hated shaving. Twenty minutes later he walked away with a shaving set and a grin. That conversation — explaining how wet shaving actually works, letting him hold the brush, talking through the soap — that's what a website can't do.
I get regulars now. People who come back every month for a soap refill or a new perfume to try. They tell me what they liked, what lasted, what their partner thought. That feedback goes straight back into what I make. The workshop and the market stall aren't separate things — they feed each other.
What the Markets Taught Me
Selling face-to-face teaches you things analytics can't. I know which perfumes make people stop mid-sentence. I know which products people buy as gifts versus for themselves. I know that when someone picks up a shaving bowl and runs their thumb across the timber, they're already deciding.
The markets are where Stuga started, and they're still where the best conversations happen. If you're ever at The Rocks on a weekend, come say hello. I'll be the one with the brushes and the perfume testers and the coffee that's gone cold.
Can't Make It to the Markets?
The 10ml traveller exists because of the markets. It's the same perfume in a pocket-sized bottle — enough to wear for a couple of weeks and figure out if it's yours. That's the closest thing to the market experience I can offer online. Pick a scent, try it properly, and if it's the one, come back for the full size.
Browse the full perfume range or start with the bestseller: Enigma.