Macy’s Inc.’s open-sell concept featuring niche beauty brands is gaining ground. Next year, Macy’s will outfit 50 additional stores with the concept, called Impulse Beauty, bringing its chainwide total to 104 store-in-store boutiques.
The department store said that, by next month, a total of 54 Macy’s stores will feature the Impulse Beauty department, which coexists with beauty counters and includes trained advisers. Currently, 49 stores include the concept, measuring about 1,000 square feet in size. It features a host of cosmetics, skin care and hair care lines, including, but not limited to, Bare Escentuals, Benefit, Cargo, Dior, Laura Geller, Philosophy, Smashbox, Stila, Bliss, Clarisonic, Dr. Brandt and T3. Macy’s plans to tailor the assortment to each store location.
“Impulse Beauty is a beauty destination geared toward a trend-wise customer,” stated Muriel Gonzalez, executive vice president and general manager for cosmetics, fragrance and shoes. “The new collection of fresh, contemporary niche brands, which are not traditionally associated with department stores, along with our established beauty counters, provide Macy’s customers with a wide assortment of product to choose from for all of their beauty needs.”
The retailer began testing Impulse Beauty in three doors last year, as an answer to a growing crop of open-sell beauty retailers, ranging from Sephora to Ulta and, in the mass market, the upscale concepts of CVS Pharmacy’s Beauty 360 and Duane Reade’s Look Boutique.
The move marks Macy’s biggest departure yet from its long-held tradition of selling mega nameplates from behind glass counters.