As the UK’s number one beauty destination, it’s no secret that beauty forms a key pillar of Boots’ retail operations.
The business launched its first beauty-only concept store in 2023 at London’s Battersea Power Station, as it continued to invest in its beauty halls and advisors across its UK portfolio.
Now, the cosmetics brand has branched out to open its first beauty concept store outside of the capital in Bristol’s Cabot Circus Shopping Centre.
The new concept store, which launched on 28 May, showcases more than 200 “leading and emerging” beauty brands across categories such as skincare, haircare, fragrance, cosmetics, premium beauty, wellness and electrical beauty.
Boots director of luxury beauty and mass cosmetics Alice Rafferty explains that the brand chose Bristol to host its first beauty concept store outside London due it already being “a strong beauty market” for the retailer and a city where it was “seeing really positive momentum”.
“Across our Bristol stores, beauty is a strong driver of customer value, basket spend and shopping frequency, particularly skincare, fragrance and premium beauty,” she explains.
“Just as importantly, this launch reflects our ambition to make the best of beauty accessible across the UK, not just in London, so Bristol felt like the right place for our first beauty-only concept store outside the capital.”
The Boots store comprises an 11,000 sq ft “immersive beauty destination” which has been “designed around discovery, experimentation and expert advice”.
Visitors are able to “explore exclusive and new-to-Boots names, enjoy trend-led edits and interactive experiences” as well as “access free beauty services such as skin scans and personalised wellness advice”.
The exec notes: “It’s a major milestone in our wider beauty transformation and a great example of how we’re evolving the Boots shopping experience for beauty.”
An experience that feels “new” on the high street
Boots has over 1,800 shops across the UK, according to its website, as well as more than 185 reinvented beauty halls.
However, Rafferty notes that what makes the Bristol store “especially exciting” is “the way it brings together several of the biggest beauty trends in one highly immersive space”.
“The store has been designed as a true ‘test and play’ destination, from the first-ever P.Louise shop in a shop format to a standout K-Beauty and J-Beauty pop-up to one of our new dedicated wellness zones,” she says.
“It is that mix of trending brands, hands-on discovery and expert-led advice that makes the experience feel genuinely new on the high street.”
“We’ve introduced more flexible fixtures so we can refresh ranges more often and bring new launches to market faster, which is especially important in such a fast-moving category,” she says.
“From our fragrance boutique, we’ve also introduced new premium fragrance elements and a dedicated Middle Eastern fragrance offer coming to the store.”
In terms of its product offering, Rafferty assures that Bristol has “its own point of difference in terms of product mix and experience,” including “a number of exclusive launches, despite being “an extension” of its first beauty only concept store in Battersea.
“An important testing ground for what’s next”
Given that the launch marks Boots’ second beauty-only store, many of its fans may be wondering whether it has plans to launch any more.
However, Rafferty says that its “focus right now” is on making its Bristol store “a real success” and “continuing to learn” from its “concept-store formats”.
“These stores are an important testing ground for what’s next, allowing us to trial new brands, services and experiences before rolling the best ideas out more widely across our estate, like we did with our dermatology trained pharmacists, who are now based in more than 500 stores,” she explains.
Likewise, the retailer’s fragrance boutique launch in October seemingly opened the floodgates for it to experiment with new types of concept stores.
However, Rafferty insists: “At the moment, our priority is continuing to build on the momentum we have across Boots Beauty, Bristol and our fragrance boutique.”
“We’re always looking at how we can evolve our retail formats to better meet changing customer needs, and our concept stores play an important role in that,” she adds.
“They allow us to test new ideas in beauty, fragrance and wellness, understand what customers respond to, and then scale the strongest elements more broadly.”
