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The Way Consumers Buy Beauty Products Is Changing. Again.

Department stores used to be ground zero for consumers looking to try and buy new makeup or skin care products, only to lose their grip on the market to Sephora and Ulta. Now, another evolution is underway as big-box retailers and drugstores enter the fray.

Target will open 100 Ulta shops in its stores this month. — Target has opened hundreds of Ulta shops in its stores. (Ulta/Target)

By

Rachel Strugatz

13 July 2022

BoF PROFESSIONAL

My first “prestige” beauty experience happened at a department store in the mid-1990s. My mom took me to the Clinique counter to get that moisturiser in the yellow bottle (everyone who is a Millennial and older knows what I’m talking about). When I graduated from college, I went to Saks and bought Bobbi Brown foundation and a “shimmer brick” highlighter I had no idea how to use. In high school, a Chanel eyeshadow quad from Macy’s was a prized possession.

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