On March 13, 2020, Glossier closed all temporary and permanent shop locations around the world due to COVID-19 safety precautions. As other beauty retailers reopened last summer with modified protocols, Glossier announced it would be shutting its stores permanently and went back to its digitally native roots to stay connected with consumers. Nearly a year later as the world slowly returns to normal, Glossier is getting back into the physical retail game despite the fact that 80% of the brand's revenue happens online.
"Now, as parts of the world begin to emerge from the worst of the pandemic, the world of Glossier is ready to exist again in 3D," founder Emily Weiss said in a blog post on the brand website. "I’m excited to share that we’ll be opening three all-new, permanent stores, starting in Seattle this August, followed by Los Angeles in the fall, and London in the winter. This is just the beginning: we have an exciting retail roadmap to bring Glossier to many more places, including our home base of New York City, in 2022."
The brand’s physical stores and pop-ups have become destinations with fans lining up around the block. The new store designs are said to have the goal of inspiring visitors to find joy and confidence in their personal beauty style, with a customer journey centered around self-discovery and belonging. People first, products second.
“We’re returning to places and communities we know and love: our new home in Los Angeles isn’t far from our former location on Melrose Place. In Seattle … our store design plays with the juxtaposition of nature and technology. In London, we’ll be following our most successful temporary store of all time with our first-ever permanent international flagship,” explained Weiss. “Each of these stores is designed to inspire everyone to find joy and confidence in their personal beauty style, with a customer journey centered around self-discovery and belonging.”
Glossier has implied this is just the beginning of a brick-and-mortar strategy, saying in the blog post that they have an exciting retail roadmap to bring Glossier to many more places.
