Until very recently, life was hard for British MUAs. Some of the biggest American brands took their time re-traversing the Atlantic after leaving our shores in the early 2000, but last January that all changed when the first UK Sephora store opened in London.
Now, there are six stores across England; but that hardly serves the entire population. Fear no more, Sephora-less ones, as the brand has announced plans to massively expand their UK presence in the next three years.
The chief executive, Guillaume Motte, recently told the Times, ‘We’re probably looking in the next two to three years to have at least 20 stores,’ across the nation, and although things haven’t been great on our high streets in the past year, he believes that, ‘exciting retail is alive and really thriving.’
This comes soon after two more Sephoras were announced to be opening in Kent and Liverpool in the near future, so the dreams of expansion are already becoming realities.
Motte admitted that Sephora will, ‘never be number-one in the UK in terms of size,’ but said that he hopes it can one day become the country’s ‘most loved’ makeup brand. That may be a tall order, but it will be interesting to see how the new stores fare as they begin to pop up.
As of right now, there’s no information on where these 20 shops will be, so we’ll just have to wait and see where Sephora decides to conquer next. Until then, you can get your fix in one of the already open spots.
Current Sephora locations:
- Birmingham Bullring, Birmingham.
- Trafford Centre, Manchester.
- Eldon Square, Newcastle.
- Metrocentre, Newcastle.
- Westfield Stratford, London.
- Westfield White City, Shepherd's Bush, London.
Time Out and the British high street
As the custodian of British city life with all its ups and downs, we at Time Out have up-to-date info about what’s closing, what’s new in the retail world and everything in-between. Here’s the full list of UK high street stores closing in 2024, why Poundland is closing its stores this December and where the next Uniqlo store will be opening.
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