The Retail Planner

With a wave of new wellness retail concepts opening from London to Los Angeles and New York, the trend for self-improvement through healthier lifestyle choices – such as veganism and clean beauty – has changed the beauty retail landscape.  Now the focus is on personalised health, whether that’s modern apothecary experiences that mix tailor-made nutrients, botanical ingredients etc, or more holistic-inspired, one-stop-shop beauty community destinations. Here are a few recently opened beauty and wellness stores to visit, for an inspiring retail trend safari.

Gastro-beauty hybrid: L’Occitane, Regent Street, London

L’Occitane’s new flagship store on Regent Street is a great example of convergent retail – the French skincare brand has collaborated with patisserie king Pierre Hermé on an in-store café –  and the gastro-beauty hybrid destination combines luxurious skincare rituals, floating botanical decorations, a wellness spa and a menu of themed sweet treats and drinks. The store design by Futurebrand UXUS, is described as ‘a contemporary Provençal landscape in the middle of London’.

Emerging talent hub: Ecclestone Yards, South Belgravia, London

There’s a new retail enclave in West London where emerging names across wellness, food and beauty are being given the chance to find their feet. Ecclestone Yards is a new retail village near to Victoria station, Pimlico and Elizabeth Street where names including Barry’s Boot Camp, Tart London, SMUK , Tailor Made and Re:Mind are driving a local, entrepreneurial wellness community.

Mindful bodyism: Aesop, Duke of York Square, London

Channelling Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer’s curved concrete designs, the new Aesop store in Chelsea features a ‘tree of life’ central structure – a fan of 12 arches covered in rose-pigmented clay plaster – while a 4.5m disc-shaped sink underneath is at the heart of the store experience, where customers can receive personalised recommendations at one of four running water stations.  The interior colour scheme is intended to ‘relate back to the body’ and create a ‘soft human feeling’, according to design firm Snøhetta.

One-stop-shop beauty destination: Hershesons, Fitzrovia, London

A convergence of multi-tasking hair and beauty salon, co-working space and social café c/o Sans Pere, means the new Hershesons flagship in Fitzrovia takes care of a range of wellbeing needs. Via a roster of third party beauty retail collaborators including Suman Brows, The Light Salon and Sunday Riley, Hershesons is ticking the grooming plus work-life balance boxes.

Modern apothecary: anatomē, Shoreditch, London

Fans of health supplements, nutrient-rich teas, essential oils and wellness guide books can find a tailor-made retail experience at new Shoreditch hybrid retail-café location, anatomē. Described as an ‘apothecary-type bar’ by founder Brendon Murdock, stressed out urbanites who are seeking health hacks for Sleep + Relaxation or Heart + Blood Health will find a personalised welcome at the juice bar as well as a weekly schedule of in-store talks and events on all things health, wellness and fitness.

Design inspo: The Conran Shop, Marylebone, London

Home to a host of niche and cult organic skincare and fragrance brands, The Conran Shop is quietly expanding its beauty and wellness offer. Nestled next door to the terrariums in the garden shop find mindful diffusers by Japanes brand Vital Material or update your bathroom shelf by investing in new British father and daughter organic hair and skincare line Austin Austin.

Instagram destination: Glossier, Melrose Place, Los Angeles

For Glossier, there is no need to move on from Millennial Pink – it’s in their DNA. It’s also the experience-driving colour of choice for the hip digital-turned physical beauty brand’s new Melrose Place destination store that features a Laurel Canyon theme – both in floral displays and desert style visual merchandising cues, not to mention an Instagram friendly selfie wall fashioned as a mountain opening.

Holistic beauty: Cap Beauty, Fred Segal, Los Angeles

It’s a holistic range of edible supplements meets all-natural skincare and cosmetics at CAP Beauty’s new outpost, housed within Fred Segal in Los Angeles. Here the US brand’s co-founders, Cindy DiPrima and Kerrilynn Pamer, say they want to provide a point of different for shopping in a physical location for their multi-brand focus on natural products that are easily shopped online, favouring a community space for customers to learn and for collaborators to hold talks, such as wellbeing specialists Apothecanna, which specialises in CBD treatments.

Clean beauty: The Wellness Shop, Neiman Marcus, Los Angeles

Neiman Marcus has got the clean beauty memo. After launching The Wellness Shop alongside brands such as Alo Toga, Tory Sport and Blanc Noir in the activewear section of its NorthPark, Dallas flagship, the department store has expanded the wellness beauty offer – including brands such as French Girl Organics, Vinter’s Daughter, Grown Alchemist and our favourite Sangre de Fruta at the Los Angeles and San Francisco locations.

Skincare studio: Osea Spa, Venice Beach, Los Angeles

When a spa brand opens a retail space, we can see how far the clean beauty movement has come. After 22 years of providing natural ingredients to facials junkies, Osea has opened its first Skincare Studio on Abbot Kinney in Venice Beach. With a wall dedicated to its natural ingredients and their skin enhancing properties, customers can shop for products or choose from three different luxury facials on-site.

Department store revamp: The Wellery, Saks, New York

Saks was one of the first department stores to join the wellness retail concept wave last year, (alongside Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols), and has used its Wellery store, now a permanent fixture, as a reason to revamp its entire beauty department, which has now moved to the second floor. One year on, The Wellery continues to change consumers’ perception of beauty and wellness, via its roster of third party wellness service providers such as Bendable Body, Peloton and Technogym for Wellery Body or Ron Dorff, Trish McEvoy and Bodyism for Wellery Spirit or Breathe Salt Room and Skinney MedSpa for Wellery Soul.

Clean oasis : Clean Market, New York

From cryotherapy chambers to super-charged vitamin IV drip treatments, Clean Market is a new wellness destination concept conceived by entrepreneur and influencer Lily Kunin of Clean Food Dirty City blog fame. Alongside the range of extreme therapies, CBD ingestible supplements and organic skincare offer, visitors will find a Moon Juice functional latte bar and smoothie café designed for wellness afcionados that like Kunin, take an inside-out approach to beauty.

Phygital wellness: Conscious Beauty, Barneys New York

Barneys New York has revamped its beauty offer in-store and online with a new focus on wellness inside and out. The retailer’s new Conscious Beauty category is dedicated to products that are clean, scientifically proven to work and ingestible. In-store, regular events encourage customers to meet with the founders of clean beauty brands such as WelleCo’s Elle McPherson or botanical beauty brand Grown Alchemist. By housing its newly focused wellness category both in-store and online, Barneys is tapping into consumer desire for phygital retail access. ‘The wellness trend has evolved and grown,’ says Jennifer Miles, Barneys VP of cosmetics. ‘Driven by digital behaviour, customers are so savvy about ingredients and are very aware of what they’re putting into their bodies. We wanted to tap into that,’ she told Glossy