From The Chronicle Herald:
Halifax gets posh makeup boutique
French-founded Sephora has stores across continent
By SELENA ROSS
Fri, Aug 12 - 4:54 AM
HALIFAX IS GETTING ITS OWN BRANCH of Sephora, the high-end makeup boutique that has spread across North America in the past 15 years.
The store opens its first Maritime location this morning on the first floor of the Halifax Shopping Centre.
Some on the East Coast may never have heard of the company, but there’s a legion of locals who have heard a lot and are looking forward to visiting a Sephora for the first time.
"I just know that it’s kind of M.A.C.’s biggest competition, and it has all of the high-end makeup; it’s like a makeup superstore," said Ashlynn Lily, 25, who learned about Sephora from friends in Toronto.
"I think it’s a great new thing. It kind of puts Halifax on the map a little more."
The Sephora brand, founded in France in 1970, began its worldwide expansion when luxury retailer Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) bought it in 1997 and opened the first store in New York. There are now more than 1,000 Sephora stores in 24 countries, including 27 in Canada, and a major expansion is planned for China, according to Ann Munro, the Halifax store’s director.
The company planned its move to Halifax after getting requests from fashionistas across the Atlantic provinces who wanted a store close enough to visit instead of ordering online, Munro said.
Unlike some other cosmetics stores, Sephora has carved out a niche not with the magic of its products but with the promise of a big customer service team who will work with shoppers one-on-one and give free makeovers.
Halifax employees have spent 2½ weeks at "Sephora University" training camp learning about what the store stocks. And there’s a lot.
"It’s a playground of cosmetics. That’s how we like to think about it," said Munro on Thursday as she pointed out dozens of different displays filling the store’s 5,200-square-foot space.
Sephora sells up to 200 different brands of makeup, nail polish, cosmetics supplies, and skin and hair-care products, including a few unavailable elsewhere like Kat Von D, Hello Kitty and Tokidoki.
The most space in the Halifax store goes to the company’s own mid-price Sephora brand.
The store tries to appeal to all generations, said Munro. It offers classic Clinique and Dior products (and poached a local Dior expert from the Bay) but also carries colourful, cheaper products that a 13-year-old could buy with her allowance.
Cheryl Fowler was visiting from Moncton and said she is excited to have a Sephora opening close by.
"When I go down (to the United States) I always try to find one, but you more go buy specific products because you don’t really have time to shop."
(
sross@herald.ca)
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