Am I the only 1 here a NON Boutique guy

^^^^yea, my keyboard is in similar shape, except gray. One side of the spacebay is very shiny, the other side is dull and rough.





Im mainly a boutique guy, for the simple reason that most of the products arent available here.



For me, heres whats available OTC. Meguiars NXT lineup, a very select few of the professional lineup of products, and the Mothers lineup. ALL else is boutique, even collinite and Duragloss.
 
Say.

Here's what I find is really strange.

Here in Australia, we have K Mart, Big W, and Target, and even though the names are familiar, these big Supermarket stlye outlets are completely different to your guys there in the US. The names may be the same, K Mart and Target, but they are the Australian versions of those Companies and have no parentage with your US Companies of the same name. They are similar in nature to Wal Mart, and we don't have Wal Mart here in Australia.

Keeping that in mind, the only stuff available in these style stores are the perceived OTC products that non car care enthusiasts would bring to mind, Armorall, Kitten, Turtle Wax, Polyglaze, (really big in Australia) and a couple of others. Meguiars, and Mothers might have two or three single products there, but that's all, and if they sell, then it's along a novelty basis. (Hey! Honey, look at this. This is new?????)

They do big business on the perceived big brands, Armorall being the biggest of all.



Now we also have car care outlets similar to your Kragens Autozone, etc, places that just sell car products, and car care products being foremost among them. They retail those big name brands I previously mentioned, but the range of products extends vastly out from there.

We have four large Companies Supercheap, (the biggest) AutObarn (not the same as yours hence the emphasis on the capital O letter in the middle of the title name) Cheapa Auto Spares and Repco, along with other smaller, State based outlets.



Here's what I'm getting at. I can walk into any one of those big four car care outlets and have access to virtually every product in the Mothers line along with the same choice for up to half a dozen other of the car care product companies, along with all the accessories, brushes, microfibres of every style and usage, etc.

True, some products are not here in Australia yet, having been just released there in the US and still six months to a year away from appearing on the shelves here.

Now I know that in the US, some of the car care product retailers in the US carry only parts of the whole range of products, and some products from 'perceived' OTC product marketers are just not available at all.

I think this may be where the perception is that some of the large Companies might be seen as being OTC, when in actual fact the perception from the general public of non enthusiast car care people is that anything other than Armorall, Kitten or Turtle is seen as being 'boutique', if you see my point.



Our eyes, as car care enthusiasts, are different in numerous ways to the average guy in the street. See the point.



Admitted, I might be a little spoiled having a dozen or so of these car care outlets within 25 miles of me, most a lot closer, but if I can't walk into at least one of them and find the exact product I'm after, then I feel miffed. One store that I get all my 'stuff' from has virtually every product Mothers make available straight off the shelf, something most guys in the US would not even be able to do.

The added advantage of being here in Australia actually sees me still able to get products long since discontinued in the US, one being the amazing Mothers Chip Repair Kit, discontinued in the US three years ago.



So, there's OTC for us car care guys, and there's OTC for the guy in the street with no knowledge of the difference between wax and polish.



Tony.

 
Like I think someone else mentioned earlier, even on here there are various definitions of OTC. Some guys consider anything you can find locally as being OTC. But like someone else I think said, I consider OTC to be the cheaper stuff that any guy can go find at any local retail supermarket type chain like Walmart, Meijer, Kmart, etc. There is other stuff that can be found OTC, but I wouldn't consider that because some of it like Meg's professional line aren't meant for the average consumer.



Really you can go on the other side of the coin as well. Boutique can even have different meaning for different people. I think boutique was really meant for expensive products that can only be found at specialty places that weren't accessible to everyone. But now so much of the "boutique" detailing products like Poorboys, Meg's professional line, etc. are very reasonably priced and can be found at virtually any online detailing store. Really I think products like Souveran, Wolfgang, Sonus, and others are really the only "boutique" products left. A lot of the other stuff really belongs in some sort of in between category.
 
OTC means to me anything you can buy locally without having to order it. I use Zymol Vintage but you can find some great products locally!!! Just go down to PeP Boys or ____

and you can get Mothers, Meg's, etc. Nothing wrong with that. Just a few years ago I did not know of any of the high end products. Meg #26 was great for me. Nothing wrong with OTC !!!
 
I get my Collinite online, so is it boutique or OTC? Basically if I can't get it at Meijer or AZ I order online; it's more convenient. I can get clay, NXT car wash, IG, and E1 all wheel cleaner locally, most everything else I order online, including towels.
 
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