Le Printemps' new beauty store about to be unveiled in Paris

By

Sarah Ahssen

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jul 13, 2017

The motto of Le Printemps' new beauty store, set to open to the public in Paris on Monday 17th July, is "La beauté est à la mode" - beauty is in fashion. The new store's 3,000 m2 retail area on three levels (double what it was before) will host 250 brands, about one hundred of them new entries. In a beauty world that is in constant flux, Le Printemps' new store features a combination of established brands and emerging small labels, as it seeks to appeal to an increasingly large and volatile clientèle.

The first novelty is that beauty at Le Printemps is changing location, moving to the department store's boulevard Haussmann branch’s third building - already home to childrenswear and home decoration - opposite the Citadium store. With its two entrances on rue du Havre and rue Caumartin, the beauty store now extends along rue de Provence, having left the ground floor of the building which faces directly on to the busy boulevard Haussmann. "The Saint-Lazare rail station being so close, 80 million people will walk by Le Printemps' new beauty store each year," said Charlotte Tasset, in charge of the women's, beauty, lingerie and children's categories at Le Printemps. And it is chiefly this local clientèle, living and/or working in the neighbourhood, which the department store is keen to attract. The charm offensive starts on the ground floor with Beautysta, a section which is visible from the street and offers a range of impulse products and directional brands such as Egyptian Magic, Bastide, Human + Kind and Merci Handy, with average prices of about €15, to stimulate quick, impulse purchases.

The ground floor also hosts the make-up section and 24 retail corners for labels such as Louboutin and Urban Decay. "Make-up is a dynamic sector. In the UK, it represents two thirds of the business. It is only in France that fragrance dominates," said Charlotte Tasset. Most brands have gone to great lengths in creating the setting for such a crucial category, as for example Giorgio Armani with its bespoke red showcase.  

On the first floor, fragrance takes over. Scents steal the scene across the 1,000 m2 retail area, with some twenty boutiques by, among others, Guerlain, Cire Trudon, introducing its first fragrances, Comme des Garçons and Le Labo. First launched by Le Printemps in 2007, the Scent Room continues with its mission, presenting and supporting more intimate labels such as Juliette has a Gun, Héloïse de V or Parle-moi de parfum, while the 'Incubateur' (incubator) section gives visibility to emerging fragrance houses. As Charlotte Tasset explained, "Le Printemps' new beauty store is structured so that brands can grow within it, gradually taking over increasingly larger areas." The observation is all the more pertinent for the fragrance category, whose so-called 'niche' brands are growing fast within a rather flat beauty market.

Finally, with 66 brands of which 43 are new (among them Sacha Juan, Rituals and Balmain), the store's lower ground floor is occupied by skincare and beauty services, with the goal of providing beauty from hair to toes. Gloss’Up will take care of nails and brow shaping, Nyx Professional will offer on-the-spot make-up and Coiffirst will pamper the customers' hair, while Nuxe and Clarins feature their beauty institute treatments, in 30-minute slots well suited to the store. As for the retail side of skincare, the L'Officine section brings together alternative skin and face care brands already known to aficionados, such as Absolution, Aurélia Skincare, Ren, Tata Harper and Moroccanoil. Within this lively part of the store there is also a catering area, managed by German brand Detox Delight.

With its new beauty store, Le Printemps' boulevard Haussmann branch has virtually applied the final touch to a make-over which began two years ago in two of its three buildings. The transformation will be complete by the end of 2018, with the three floors dedicated to food at 64 boulevard Haussmann.