Sephora is planning to roll out more of its new, smaller format boutique stores, with some already signed, Retail Week can reveal.

Speaking at the launch of the retailer’s first boutique on London’s Carnaby Street, managing director Sarah Boyd said: “There’s more to come”.

“We’ve opened on Carnaby Street, next week will be Spitalfields Market, and there’s more to come so watch this space,” she revealed.

“We already have several (stores) signed and another going into construction soon, so you’ll be hearing more from us.”

While she kept the specific locations under wraps, she did say London is a focus for these formats for the time being and if successful, the team will “go for it” and open more.

“We’re still only three and a half years into our journey in the UK and have 16 stores,” she said.

“We’ve managed to do well and get that national reach, and we’re opening in Glasgow soon too. We’ve opened in all the major cities in the UK, which was really important for us to do before we came back to London.

“Now we’re at the end of that first phase, we’re focusing on London while still opening stores across other cities where we haven’t quite found the perfect location yet.”

Q&A with Sarah Boyd

What sparked the idea to launch the boutique format?

“We have incredible stores around the world, but in the UK, all of the stores we opened are big, 500 square metre, big boxes, often in big malls. We heard from consumers that they wanted us to also be opening in their city, town, and high street, and we recognised the fact that you can rarely find a huge great box on a high street or in a smaller inner city area. We wanted to try this in the boutique format, which is what we’re opening today on Carnaby Street.”

Why was Carnaby Street the first choice for the new format?

“It’s such an iconic shopping and lifestyle destination in London and one of those streets that everyone comes to to shop. It’s got tourists, domestic tourists, people coming in before or after college, school, or work. It’s a really high-traffic, very cool, edgy neighbourhood that we felt would suit us really well, and we were looking for a location here for the longest time.”

Does Sephora have boutique formats internationally?

“We do have smaller formats internationally. In Southern Europe, we have targeted stores as they’re high sunshine, high tourist (footfall), and beachy. We also have some new formats in Canada and the US, and we’re trialling different things in different countries. That’s the beauty of the Sephora model.”

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