WHAT IS IT?
Harrods’ new 90,000sq ft beauty space launched on January 25 within its world-famous London Knightsbridge department store.
The Beauty Events & Services space, located on the lower ground floor, offers a dedicated beauty concierge, two interactive masterclass rooms, an auditorium, a studio, the largest Chanel play table, and 14 treatment rooms where beauty experts provide customers with consultations, advice and exclusive treatments.
Meanwhile, Harrods’ skincare emporium opened in October 2019 on the ground floor, bringing together different brands. The space offers something for every skin type, from natural doctor-led products and J-Beauty to the latest gadgets.
Visitors can also book treatments at The Wellness Clinic and the Hair & Beauty Salon on the fourth and fifth floors.
The development was driven by Harrods’ beauty director, Annalise Fard.
“Beauty Events & Services is yet another landmark in Harrods’ quest to bring its customers a world-class proposition that truly delivers constant rarefied and enriching experiences,” she said.
“Harrods has made an unparalleled investment to really push the boundaries of what experiential retailing could and should be.”
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Upon entering the Beauty Events & Services area, customers are greeted by the beauty concierge – a service that is described as “personal shopping for beauty”.
Customers can book treatments throughout the emporium or a spot in one of the two masterclass spaces.
The staged auditorium, which seats 30, is aimed at offering brands a space to launch products with expert appearances. The room is enabled for video conferencing and live interaction from all over the world.
“Through our event spaces, the intention was to challenge the paradigm of what ‘online to offline’ looks like in a retail context and indeed in the broader universe of beauty,” Fard said.
“Exploring the notion of inclusivity via live-streaming was key to achieving our aim of making Harrods and our unique high-touch experiences accessible to the broadest possible audience.”
The second room is an intimate studio seating 10, with mirrors across two play tables – created for in-depth and interactive sessions such as interviews with brand founders and make-up tutorials.
The masterclass spaces are also used to host a series of exclusive educational events and personal appearances, such as fragrance explorations and scent wardrobing.
HOW WELL DOES IT WORK?
The Beauty Events & Services provides access to exclusive brand treatments that have never before been available in the UK, including Japanese skincare brands Clé de Peau Beauté and Decorté.
In February, world-famous French brands Dior and Chanel launched their first ever UK spas within the new space, offering treatments directly from their Paris flagships. At the time of writing, skincare brands such as La Mer and La Prairie were offering visitors the chance to learn techniques and application methods.
The beauty concierges don’t work for specific brands and so are able to offer unbiased advice and they aim to find the right product for both men and women. During the consultation, guests will be asked to bring along their make up bags so the experts can learn more about the types of products they use and how they use it.
Meanwhile, the treatment rooms offer an hour-long treatments extending across personalised facial contours, lifting massage techniques, detoxifying facials and sculpting, with prices ranging from £70 to £250.
Harrods said it aimed to simplify the shopping experience, as customers who completed their treatment with a certain brand could go upstairs to purchase additional products from that same company.
Harrods’ beauty concierge David Scheffen-Serhane told Retail Gazette that the emporium was essentially a space for brands to showcase products.
“Our treatment rooms also offer samples so the customers will just go upstairs afterwards to look for the brand, and then find other offerings they didn’t know they needed,” he said.
SHOULD I TRY IT?
Harrods’ Beauty Events & Services was introduced so that the department store offered a space that was more than just about buying a product.
The studio space was inspired by the growth of make up vloggers and features ring lights to offer guests an identical experience – making it ‘Instagrammable’.
The space is also suited to those who show an interest in beauty, skin care and fragrance.
The classes usually hold just a few people, which means the experts can place maximum attention on guests.
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