Jan 18, 2023

Sephora is back, with its first UK store set to open 18 years after its British exit. After launching its UK website in October 2022, French beauty and skincare retailer Sephora has confirmed that it will open the doors to a London flagship store in March at Westfield London , White City . The retailer will occupy a 6K SF store housing a range of products from makeup to fragrance, skincare, haircare and wellness. The store will also feature products from more than 140 brands including Drunk Elephant, Summer Fridays to Fenty as well as a lineup of names exclusive to Sephora UK such as Makeup by Mario, according to Retail Gazette . Sephora has exited the UK once, in May 2005. It opened just six stores, the first of which was in the Bluewater shopping centre in 2000. The LVMH-owned retailer blamed soaring rents and costs for its inability to compete with established players last time. Rumours in 2019 that Sephora would be opening a store in Westfield London shopping centre failed to materialise, however Sephora acquired e-beauty retailer FeelUnique in 2021 for £132M, making a return to the UK a very real prospect. In October 2022 Sephora switched web domains from FeelUnique to Sephora.co.uk. “Sephora has transformed the beauty experience of customers all over the world and we are delighted to bring our inspirational in-store environment to London, which has some of the most demanding beauty fans in the world,” Sephora President Europe Middle East Sylvie Moreau said. “We know that London’s youthful and inventive vibe is one of the best places in the world for us to introduce some of the innovations that will make the Sephora experience even more extraordinary in the future.” The UK is also among the three leading cosmetic consumer markets in Europe, behind only France and Germany, Moreau said. The sector is currently dominated by two high street competitors, Boots and rival Superdrug , with many departments stores disappearing or closed. Next , which bought Marie Claire’s beauty format Fabled from Ocado in 2019, has diversified into beauty halls, launching a number up and down the UK mainly in spaces vacated by the collapsed department store chain Debenhams . Harrods has opened five beauty stores, including the recently opened H Beauty at the Metrocentre , Gateshead , while, Frasers Group ’s Flannels plans to open up to 10 Beauty Edit concept spaces in key regional locations by 2025. Contact Mark Faithfull at mark.faithfull@bisnow.com