CVS opens Beauty360 No. 3 in one of its original Project Life stores
RIDGEFIELD, Conn. CVS Caremark opened its third Beauty360 department at an existing CVS store here on Main Street. The roughly 3,000-sq.-ft., high-end store-next-to-store concept carves out a space the size of a Sephora store to create an entirely different shopping experience for CVS beauty customers, featuring such brands as Borba and Ahava, with retail prices topping $100 and more.
The newest Beauty360 opens in a CVS store that is no stranger to innovation; the location was one of the early Project Life stores.
A few new wrinkles at CVS’ newest Beauty360, includes the addition of hair care and an increased presence in men’s grooming. The retailer debuted 10 new brands in all, including, Vincent Longo, Cargo, Jack Black, Anthony Logistics for Men, Mario Badescu, Bioelements, Philip B, LOLA, H20+ and Neil George. The changes came in response to extensive customer research, CVS VP merchandising Cheryl Mahoney told Drug Store News. “We’re listening to what our customer are telling us,” she said.
Beauty 360 was launched by CVS/pharmacy in 2008 with the inaugural location in Washington, D.C., followed soon after by the second store in Mission Viejo, Calif.
The new store is also roughly 300 sq. ft. larger than the first Beauty360 it opened last November in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle neighborhood, CVS senior category manager for beauty Mary Lou Gardner told VIP attendees at Monday morning’s grand opening festivities. Given the newest location’s more open feel, however, the space “feels twice the size” of its other location.
According to CVS SVP merchandising Mike Bloom, CVS plans to operate Beauty360 in roughly 50 stores a year from now, with 30 or more open by the end of the year. In particular, Bloom noted, the former Longs stores — now undergoing conversion — in California offer several opportunities to add Beauty360, and that is the current plan for many of those stores, he said. The stores, which also offer a menu of salon services including mini-manicures and makeup consultations — a major component of Beauty360, bringing a more experiential element to the shopping experience— will look to offer additional services in the future, Bloom said.
In addition to having several of its brand partners on hand, joining CVS executives for the grand opening of Beauty360 no. 3, was “Sex and the City” star Kristin Davis, who is also a celebrity spokeswoman for the Ahava brand.
Like its other Beauty360 stores, the department features a separate entrance at the front of the store, and is also connected to the adjacent CVS/pharmacy location via a breezeway entrance located at the end of the main store’s cosmetics wall.