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THE SELF-MADE CEO
Ryford Estores, 29
CEO and Founder, Self-Cut System
Ryford Estores, the 29-year-old founder and CEO of Self-Cut System, a line of self-grooming products, launched his company in his mother’s Ossining basement in 2008. Now Estores hopes his Self-Cut System, which includes a patent-pending three-way mirror that hangs from a door, will revo- lutionize the way men and women think about haircuts.
Estores began cutting his own hair at 16, when he grew tired of visiting the barber every Friday to keep up with his hairstyle. Soon, he was cutting the hair of his Ossining High School classmates, and it wasn’t long before the local barber hired Estores to stave off a drop in business.
When Estores was 24, the concept for the Self-Cut System popped into his head while cutting his own hair. “It just hit me,” he recalls. “I was tired of the frustration from twisting my back and holding a mirror.” If people could see the backs of their heads and had instruction on how to cut their own hair, he believed, they too would drop the barber.
In addition to the three-way hanging mirror, designed for 360-degree visibility, the system, which went on sale in late 2010, also includes video instructions for self-grooming on DVD. He spent two years developing his invention, consulting with product engineers, patent lawyers, and manufacturers to build a prototype. Self-Cut System now offers a number of packages for its growing clientele, some including clippers, for example, and one that is aimed especially for women.
In its third year, the Self-Cut System is on track to generate $1 million in sales. Today, the Ossining resident is hiring a marketing firm and a personal assistant, and he’s rebranding the entire operation. By late summer, Self-Cut System will be available in retail stores, a huge boon for the company. He expects availability at AFFES (Army and Air Force Exchange Service, essentially the Walmart of American military bases worldwide) and Sally
Beauty Supply stores, a popular beauty-supplies chain, to dwarf current sales. “I focus on a good product, and everything else falls into place,” says
Estores. “The key is making people loyal to the brand, money comes second.”
THE MARKET EXPERT
Joseph DeCicco Jr., 28
Owner/Operator, DeCicco Family Markets
It might be easy to underestimate Joseph DeCicco Jr. as merely the lucky heir to the 10-store (soon to be 11) DeCicco Family Markets throne, but that would be a mistake.
“We’re up to three stores on our own with a fourth one coming,” says DeCicco, 28, whose father, Joe Sr., and his two brothers, John Sr., and Frank, all Italian born, own
the remaining seven stores. DeCicco, with the help of his cousins John Jr. and Chris, built the Ardsley; Brewster, New York; Harrison; and Armonk locations. Together,
they independently own and manage the stores, which, combined, generate $50 million in annual revenue and employ roughly 300 people. (The Armonk store is expected to open in late May.)
Those numbers are daunting, but, to DeCicco, it’s noth-
ing new. “I grew up in these stores,” he says. “It doesn’t feel like work; it feels like part of me, part of my makeup.”
“Joe’s 28 and he has 28 years of experience,” says lifelong friend and DeCicco Family Markets IT Director Paul Heskestad, who says DeCicco’s upbringing in and around the business is the ultimate job qualification. But DeCicco has all the traditional qualifications, too. He’s a trained master butcher, and he has a certification in international bread baking from the French Culinary Institute (now The International Culinary Center), as well as a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Fordham University. And, perhaps equally important, a knowledge of and passion for food and beer.
Take DeCicco’s 10-year love affair with craft beer. In the Brewster location (and soon, Armonk), shoppers can visit an in-store bar before they make rounds with the shopping cart, a feature you will not find in his father’s stores. And at beer-themed events like “Really Special Beer Night v2.0,” shoppers can sample a slew of limited-production, seasonal, and/or one-off varieties.
It’s DeCicco’s spin on what’s made DeCicco Family Markets successful since 1973: Bring to the suburbs high-quality food and beverages normally found only in the City—or the other side of the Atlantic. (Joe Sr.’s cheese program set the model here.) The goal, says DeCicco, is to offer what you would find “at a well-versed beer bar in Manhattan.” He’s even launched partnerships with Sierra Nevada, Captain Lawrence Brewing Company, and Sixpoint Brewery to brew custom DeCicco flavors. This year, keep an eye out for Beer DeCicco, in a Sicilian lemon flavor, brewed by Captain Lawrence.
—Philip Garrity
—Philip Garrity
westchestermagazine.com
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