LONDON — Selfridges opened its brand new beauty salon at its Oxford Street flagship on Friday, following a 12-month multimillion-pound refurbishment.
The refurbished and optimized space, which has seen warehouses redesigned to house more than 300 beauty brands (of which 50 are exclusive to the Central Group-owned UK retailer), also has over 200 beauty lines with over 1,000 beauticians working on it. will also provide the service. ground.
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“We have a fantastic beauty business and we want to make sure we allow ourselves to continually evolve,” said Selfridges beauty buying manager Melissa McGinnis.
“We are surrounded by magnificent accessories and luxurious spaces on both sides. It’s about how we can utilize the space we have in an exciting way and bring more brands to life. We increased the number of branded stalls to eight. We have a very large and diverse customer base. “We are trying to create different destinations that will allow our customers to shop in a way that suits their preferences,” added McGinnis.
One of the biggest changes coming with the latest refurbishment is that Selfridges has removed internal walls to open up the space connecting the fragrance hall, just next to the large main doors, to the store, central beauty salon and beauty workshop. The area that used to sell chocolate and opened into the dining room.
“We now see that these areas are truly a single entity. We have evolved so much from when we launched the beauty workshop in 2012, when the beauty industry is what it is today and Selfridges beauty businesses are what they are today. Customers emerging in these areas are truly migrating and exploring everywhere. So we wanted to create a space that would better facilitate that,” McGinnis said.
The new beauty salon allows Selfridges to host a wide range of brands, depending on where they are in their journey or price point. McGinnis said established brands will want large spaces with wall advertising, while he also wants to help popular direct-to-consumer brands take their first steps into the physical retail environment.
“At Selfridges we want to be at the forefront of innovation at the core of everything we do. “We know we have different areas within our beauty playground that will allow us to expose a brand no matter where they are in their journey, help them thrive and grow in our stores and meet our customers,” said McGinnis.
For an optimized shopping experience, Selfridges is also improving sightlines of the space, opening up the space and allowing customers to see the entire room no matter where they are in the beauty salon. A similar development was implemented in 2018 with the renovation of the retailer’s Manchester Trafford store.
“You will notice that all the stalls are 1.5 meters high. We have consistent design and branding principles throughout the space. That room has very high energy and is the central room of the entire store. It has the highest density and heaviest pedestrian traffic. For us, it was about how we could enhance the space by changing the architecture, but still keep the energy from all our brand partners and their great brand designs coming through in a really exciting way,” McGinnis said.
The main hall is also equipped with a new LED lighting system.
“All of these changes wouldn’t be possible without the lighting we put in. If you’re shopping for beauty, especially if you’re shopping color categories, it’s critical that you have the best lighting for tonal representation. So our great team in store can help customers match products,” McGinnis said.
A focus on sustainability is also at the heart of the entire project, according to McGinnis.
To align with Selfridges’ ethos of sustainability, 74 brands including Chanel, Prada, Dior, Dries Van Noten, Hermès and Le Labo will offer more than 2,500 refill options. All brands operating within the beauty salon aim to refill their counters by 2025.
“Some brands, like Le Labo, are already on this journey. Then we had other brands that helped drive those types of conversations internally. We’re probably 85 to 90 percent of the way there with our brand partners,” McGinnis said.
Around 37 brands, including Charlotte Tilbury, Pat McGrath Labs, Hourglass, Dior, Tom Ford, MFK, Prada, Loewe, Jo Malone, Aesop, Victoria Beckham, Rabanne, Valentino, Dries Van Noten and Burberry, are introducing new more sustainable countertops. created the lounge in accordance with the Selfridges Sustainable Building Code.
According to McGinnis, Selfridges works hand-in-hand with brands to ensure all new builds, refurbishments and maintenance projects, as well as brand partner stores and pop-up projects, are made from responsibly sourced materials that are better for the planet. and this improves healthy indoor air quality.
Experiences to encourage innovation are also a key attraction of the new beauty salon.
The space has historically had two pop-up areas on either side of the information desk facing the main entrance. With last year’s north central space revamp, the retailer introduced three experiential gaming tables: one for hair, one for color, and one for skin.
Three new atrium spaces dedicated to beauty, moving between floors at Selfridges, will open on Friday alongside a new beauty salon.
“It’s not a Selfridges space unless you’re bringing spectacular activations to life,” McGinnis said, adding that the introduction of the Beauty Spot, a permanent 330 square meter space for creative and experiential beauty retail concepts, would attract more customers there. new beauty salon.
It will kick off with a four-month special residency by Refy, the UK-based, TikTok-famous cosmetics brand founded by Jess Hunt and Jenna Meek.
“It is a space that aims to effectively reflect the amazing activations we do at Corner Shop, which is open to all categories. We are lucky to have this space for so many beauty launches, including Pat McGrath, Pleasing, Chanel and Charlotte Tilbury,” said McGinnis.
“We’ve been receiving great sales offers over the years, but we have very few opportunities to offer brands. When designing the new space, we knew we wanted to create a new destination that would allow us to bring all these great brand collaborations to life in a space that could offer our brands a longer stay with more flexible guidelines. “So they create an incredible, immersive destination,” he said.
According to McGinnis, Refy is well-suited to launch because the brand has been one of the best performers since its launch in Selfridges in 2021.
“As an iconic British department store, it made incredible sense for us to choose a truly exciting, immersive, innovative, UK-based brand that we have a great partnership with, and it’s time for them to have an even greater partnership. launch pad with us in beauty. We are also opening a new store with them in our Manchester Trafford store,” said McGinnis.
Hunt and Meek of Refy said they designed the space as a kitchen that is “the heart of the home and a space for creativity.” They will implement three different concepts during the residency.
“All three experiences revolve around delighting the senses, offering opportunities to touch, feel and interact with innovation, and seeing a new world of Refy through our window with each launch. We partner with brands within Selfridges to offer the flavors of summer as well as opportunities to come and learn and play with us at the dinner table, truly immersing the customer in our range of new and existing products, allowing them to learn and create. said the duo.
Born during the pandemic, Refy’s partnership with Selfridges provided the brand’s UK customers with the opportunity to feel and try the product in real life. Last year, the brand recorded over 100 percent growth in total sales compared to the previous year.
On the experience front, customers; They can choose from a menu of head-to-toe beauty services, including color, skin and fragrance consultancy, over-the-counter treatments, personalization and gift ideas.
For example, Estée Lauder, Lancôme and Prada will offer skin diagnosis and decoding services. MAC offers product personalization with stickers. La Mer has treatment pods, while Armani will operate a glow bar. Meanwhile, Charlotte Tilbury will be offering virtual “tryouts” and mini masterclasses.
Next to the beauty point, there is a beauty concierge where customers can book beauty appointments, master classes and expert advice for each brand. It offers beauty services such as beauty bag makeovers and Selfridges beauty tours. The concierge is supported by a team of eight experts who speak more than 20 languages.
“The team members there are phenomenal. They’re people who have worked across different brands throughout their careers at Selfridges and are now part of our beauty concierge team, which is an existing offering but we’re continuing to grow,” McGinnis said.
McGinnis said the upgrade of the beauty salon was fully supported by Thailand Central Group, the retailer’s current owner.
“We renovated many areas on the ground floor. Beauty and food are the last two, and beauty is always planned to come first. When COVID-19 emerged, we paused the project and were the first department to present our vision and strategy when we took over new ownership. It was signed off quicker than any project I’ve ever worked on in this industry and I’ve been at Selfridges for 17 years. “It was positive to see that they agreed with us and were fully supportive of the direction we wanted to take our business,” McGinnis added.
The launch is accompanied by a special campaign called Big City Beauty, shot by Sam Youkilis. A program of beauty events will be held at the company’s stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester every weekend throughout June.
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