Clean beauty retailer Credo unveiled its twelfth store and second location in Los Angeles, choosing Larchmont Village, a vibrant, walkable neighborhood with a rich history and a small-town feel. The latest store lives in the newly renovated Larchmont Mercantile, the most significant retail space on the street, with 14 contiguous storefronts across 17,000 square feet of commercial space.
"Larchmont Village is such a charming street with beautiful independent boutiques and great restaurants," said Annie Jackson, co-founder and COO of Credo Beauty. "It made so much sense to open Credo there. We've been looking for this street for some time and are extremely excited to unveil a brand new store concept, with a new interior design for the Larchmont customers at Credo."
The new store concept reflects the company's overarching merchandising strategy to curate the most selective assortment in the clean beauty landscape. The intent of the new design was to provide the consumer with an easy, relaxed flow for exploration while providing significant space for master classes, events, and 1:1 consultations.
Credo engaged the LA-based Klein Agency founded by the American-Slovenian duo Jon and Maša Kleinhample, whose practice is grounded in "a simple promise to design and build honest spaces and objects." The new design reflects the retailer's values, featuring a minimalist palette of natural materials that give an air of simplicity by stripping away unnecessary finishes.
"Natural materials including hand-oiled, domestically sourced, Hemlock and Douglas Fir wood are used throughout the store to permeate a sense of warmth, creating a calm backdrop that invites the customers to shop Credo’s select clean beauty brands," Maša Kleinhample shared. "Soft warm beige plaster walls hug the domestic Hemlock installed as a beam ceiling and, together with the textured limestone on millwork surfaces and polished concrete floors, give an unpretentious domestic feel to the interior, providing a backdrop for Credo’s clean mission.”
Credo is known for its commitment to education, and has assembled a team with backgrounds in esthetics and makeup artistry. The new retail design dedicates more space to treatments and services. The retailer also refreshed its menu of services, which includes Clean Beauty Discovery & Consultation, Facial and Skincare Consultations and Treatments, Clean Makeup Exploration and Application, Brow Waxing and Grooming, and Lip Waxing.
Jackson said, "We look to open in high-traffic neighborhoods like Larchmont Village, to allow us to connect with communities that share our values that emphasize a healthy lifestyle. Our retail teams love building strong relationships with our customers through a very personalized approach that does not over-rely on technology."
In the Larchmont location, the new design places emphasis on PACT, the nonprofit organization Credo co-founded to bring the beauty industry together to create more sustainable beauty packaging. PACT collects hard-to-recycle beauty packaging so it can be diverted from landfills and processed correctly. Creating space to engage with customers and educate them on what can be recycled vs. what is genuinely single-use is a core tenet of Credo's DNA.
In October 2022, Credo acquired Boston-based clean beauty competitor Follain, absorbing its online business and brick-and-mortar store in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood in the deal. Credo also appointed Stuart Millar as the new CEO last year, poaching him from Aesop where he held the role as General Manager and President of Aesop Americas, driving expansion in the US, Canada, and Brazil. Credo could be building the foundation for growth.
