Sephora's UK flagship to open next month with new design features

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 27, 2023

Sephora is preparing for a major assault on the UK market from next week as it prepares to open its first British store since it returned to the country via its webstore last autumn.

The new location will open on 8 March in the giant Westfield White City mall in West London. It covers more than 6,000 sq ft and the company said it’s opening the store after last year’s website and app debut saw “unprecedented demand”.

It will have “next-generation retail design features, unparalleled curation of products, exciting range of beauty services, and passionate Beauty Advisors”.

The store’s façade will be wrapped in Sephora’s distinctive black and white stripes, but the interior will feature “new design elements, including soft geometric shapes, ambient lighting, textured finishes, and succulent greenery to create a warm and inviting atmosphere”.

The location is one that already has a strong beauty offer so is a destination for the category’s shoppers.

Westfield White City is also the largest retail destination in Europe and Sephora is known for focusing on such malls. Back when it previously attempted to crack the UK market it opened (and later closed) a store at Bluewater. That, too, was Europe’s biggest mall at the time.

The latest opening comes at a time of huge expansion for premium beauty in the UK. The Harrods H Beauty chain has been opening new branches, as has Next’s upscale beauty offer. Meanwhile, specialists such as Space NK have been rolling out new and bigger stores, while multi-category retailers like Flannels have signalled beauty as a key growth category.