PureSeoul and SpaceNK have opened new stores at Lakeside Shopping Centre, strengthening Essex, in southeast England, as a destination for beauty, while both retailers continue to expand their physical footprints in the UK.
K-beauty retailer PureSeoul has made its regional debut with a 1,919-square-foot store on Level 1 of the shopping center. The location carries more than 30 Korean beauty brands, including Torriden, Amuse, TirTir, Beauty of Joseon, and Medicube, as well as a dedicated workshop space designed to support product discovery and beauty education. PureSeoul, founded as an online K-beauty retailer in 2019, has rapidly built a physical footprint across the UK, reaching 16 stores in 2026 as it looks to capitalize on accelerating British demand for Korean beauty.
The opening gives PureSeoul access to one of the UK’s largest retail catchments. Lakeside attracts more than 17 million visitors annually and has a catchment of 8.5 million people within an hour’s drive, representing an estimated £11 billion ($14.9 billion) in available consumer spend.
For PureSeoul, the launch reflects the growing appetite for K-beauty in the UK and the retailer’s strategy of translating that demand into physical retail. Its multibrand format allows consumers to shop across some of the categories' most recognizable names while providing an offline discovery environment for products and routines that have often gained traction through social media.
“There is no question that PureSeoul maintains its position as the UK’s leading K-beauty retailer, and this is in part due to our strategy of locations to launch,” said Leslie Tang, co-founder and Chief Executive of PureSeoul, in the press release. “Lakeside was an easy choice for us, with a wide and dedicated catchment, a complementary tenant mix, and an engaged visitor base that we know will love what we have to offer.”
SpaceNK has opened separately on Level 2, unveiling its latest store concept across 3,665 square feet. SpaceNK has 91 stores open in the UK. The location carries a premium makeup, skincare, haircare, and fragrance assortment, featuring brands such as Charlotte Tilbury, Rare Beauty, REFY, Drunk Elephant, and Olaplex.
The two openings bring different ends of the current beauty landscape together at Lakeside. PureSeoul taps into the continued expansion of Korean beauty and discovery-driven shopping, while SpaceNK strengthens the center’s prestige beauty proposition with a larger-format multibrand environment.
The additions also reflect the growing importance of beauty as a traffic-driving category for major UK shopping destinations, as retailers invest in physical environments that offer consumers more than straightforward product transactions. PureSeoul’s workshop space and SpaceNK’s latest store format both lean into experiential discovery positioned as a complement to online beauty discovery.
The openings build on Lakeside’s already established beauty and wellness mix, which spans mass, prestige, fragrance, and specialist retail. The destination is home to Boots and Superdrug, alongside Harrods Beauty, and fragrance is represented by Jo Malone London, The Fragrance Shop, the Perfume Shop, and Beauty Base, which specialize in niche and luxury scents. Lush, Rituals, and The Body Shop add dedicated bath-and-body concepts, while Holland & Barrett extend the offering into wellness. The arrival of PureSeoul and SpaceNK further diversifies that mix, adding a stronger K-beauty presence and expanding Lakeside’s multibrand prestige beauty proposition.
“The openings of PureSeoul and SpaceNK mark a significant milestone for enhancing our beauty offer, as we continue to provide an unrivaled level of visitor choice,” said Robert Jewell, Managing Director of Asset Management at Pradera, which asset manages Lakeside on behalf of SGS UK Retail, in the press release.
Lakeside spans 1.6 million square feet and houses more than 250 retail, hospitality, and leisure operators. The latest beauty openings form part of a wider period of investment in the center’s tenant mix, as it looks to reinforce its position as a major retail destination for consumers across London and the South East.
