How Biologique Recherche fueled retail demand
Hi, and welcome to Glossy’s Weekly Recap, where Glossy editor-in-chief Jill Manoff breaks down a big industry conversation and highlights five of the latest must-read Glossy stories. Sign up here to get Glossy’s daily, in-depth coverage on the businesses of beauty and fashion in your inbox every weekday morning.
While a flagship can be a brand’s first store, it’s more accurately defined as its most important store. It’s the biggest sales driver among owned retail and the best physical representation of the brand. For Biologique Recherche, the 54-year-old luxury skin-care brand, its first location, opened in 1992, became its flagship — and a brand hero, as explained last week by its U.S. gm, Margot Humbert.
“We've had our own spa in Paris for years now. That was the main address, on Champs-Élysées. It was called the House of BR, at one point, then the House of Beauty. Then, it transformed to become the Ambassade of Beauty,” she told Glossy. “And that location was really the pinnacle of the brand. All of our clients around the world, whenever they would come to Paris, they would visit the space. And then, the strategy was: ‘We need to have more satellites of this’ — because we’re delivering an experience everybody's raving about all around the world, but we wanted to be able to deliver it closer to our clients. So, to export the experience — basically, a high-luxury environment — we're using only the best. I won't share our cost per square foot, but it's very, very high. And we use the best materials.”
The original Ambassade and subsequent Biologique Recherche spa locations offer a Skin Instance Lab, which uses a device to analyze skin via five probes. There’s also a video lab, which analyzes the skin’s layers with a focus on the presence of hyperpigmentation and sun damage. And, finally, its staff provides visual and tactile diagnostics. Customers book time to be walked through these steps — and, of course, get the pampering beauty treatment that can follow.
The brand’s latest store, located on Boston’s Newbury Street, opened this month. By early 2025, Houston and New York locations will open, bringing the U.S. footprint to four stores. An L.A. location opened in 2022.
As covered in last week’s Luxury Briefing, Biologique Recherche’s biggest challenge as it expands its retail doors is securing and retaining associates who are skilled at providing luxury service.
Building global buzz via a single retail location is an accomplishment few retailers can claim. But when successful, as shown in Biologique Recherche’s experience, it takes the guesswork out of subsequent retail investments and provides invaluable marketing via word-of-mouth.
Catch up on the week’s 5 most-read beauty and fashion stories below.
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