Lady LUX

BeautyBar.com is getting physical. The luxury beauty products website, owned by Amazon.com, is about to unveil its first permanent store, located in a 1,600-square-foot space in Manhasset, N.Y., reported WWD.

“We’re confident the partnership will move forward,” Katina Mountanos, site leader for merchandising and marketing at BeautyBar, said to WWD. “We hope to be open by the end of the summer.”

Amazon.com acquired Quidsi – parent company of BeautyBar – in 2010 for $500 million, taking on the company’s $45 million debt. This purchase came on the heels of Amazon’s $1.2 billion acquisition of shoe company Zappos.com, also last year.

The beauty site first opened a concept shop in Montclair, N.J., to test the waters.

“This is our first foray into building a store strategy for BeautyBar,” Mountanos said. “We’re not opposed to opening more stores in the future.”

The new store will vend in the neighborhood of 75 high-end brands, including well-known names such as Philosophy, Bliss and Dermalogica; niche brands like Malin + Goetz; and difficult-to-find lines such as Diego Della Palma. Aestheticians and makeup artists will be available for consultation in the store’s two treatment rooms.

Mountanos believes that at the end of the day, BeautyBar’s success lies in the number and quality of companies that list on its website.

“Each brand has its own brand page and can post videos,” she explained. “We don’t do any discounting on the site.”

Beauty Bar wants to give its shoppers that hands-on feel. Because it is difficult to get a sense of products from shopping online, each BeautyBar customer is given three free samples.

“We’re building innovative tools and investigating licensing opportunities for other tools that will allow customers to try on makeup,” Mountanos said. “We’re really focused on sampling.”

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