Following the success of its shoppable ‘showroom’ in New York City, the company has announced it will open a store on Los Angeles shopping hotspot Melrose Avenue.
The store will become the brand’s first permanent outpost on the West Coast. The interior of the 1,500-foot store will reportedly draw inspiration from a road trip through the California desert and will feature a 'Glossier Canyon' for us, and San Francisco — in a lot of California we have a lot of demand," founder and CEO Emily Weiss told WWD in an exclusive last week.
Weiss was speaking following the success of its month-long pop-up store at Rhea’s Cafe in San Francisco, which opened in March and has reportedly seen a Glossier product purchased every 20 seconds.
Millennial favorite
The move from the three-year old beauty phenomenon continues its evolution into a major industry player. Its meteoric rise was officially confirmed in February, when it raised $52 million in Series C funding.
The brand’s minimalist packaging, bold type face and pink color scheme have cemented its popularity among young women across the US and UK in particular.
In addition to Glossier's recent pop up presence in the Bay Area, the company has also run week-long pop-ups in both London and Toronto, reportedly drawing upwards of 10,000 visitors.
Digital roots
Weiss has proven herself a savvy navigator of the millennial market, and having started life as beauty site Into the Gloss, Glossier’s roots are planted firmly in the digital world.
The online sale of its select product range has seen it make use of a strong social-driven strategy, providing so-called ‘influencers’ with shareable discount codes and communicating with its target audience through social platforms and chatty e-mail marketing campaigns.
Continued direct-to-consumer approach
Speaking to WWD last week, Weiss explained that a direct-to-consumer approach remains the brand’s priority.
Despite the new store announcement: “Our offline activations are really the icing on the cake — we’re not looking to go wide with those,” she said.
"We want to make it a very unique and special experience. If we do them everywhere, we won't be able to deliver on that."