Thousands of beauty fans queue for the opening of Sephora’s first Birmingham store
More than 2,000 people queued in Birmingham’s Bullring & Grand Central yesterday for the opening of Sephora’s latest beauty store.
The shop is the French retailer’s sixth in the UK and features the biggest Sephora window facade in Europe at 26 metres.
Ahead of the grand opening at 10am, beauty fans queued to be the among the first customers to enter the shop and to receive one of 500 goody bags.
Whilst waiting they were entertained by host and drag MC Don One, Birmingham DJ SOULQU3ST and local hypeman Speaker Flex UK, as well as a parade featuring local Bollywood dancers, Bhangra dancers and drummers, street dancers, and Caribbean festival dancers.
There was also a range of treats provided by Soho Coffee, Bubbleology, Boost Juice and Cano Water.
Meanwhile, members of Birmingham City University’s cheerleading squad danced ahead of the shop window reveal by Sephora UK managing director Sarah Boyd, worldwide chief executive and president Guillaume Motte, and Europe and Middle East president Sylvie Moreau.
Beauty advisors from the store and staff from Sephora’s distribution centre then performed the iconic Sephora BA dance before the official ribbon cutting by Boyd and store director Melanie Pryor.
Boyd said: “We are thrilled to finally open the doors to our long-anticipated Sephora Birmingham store within Hammerson’s Bullring & Grand Central centre, and to mark a true brand moment with our biggest window facade in Europe.
“The appetite for our opening from this rich and diverse community has been electrifying and energetic, and it was important for us to honour them with a grand opening procession that celebrated the vibrant people of this city.”
Katy Letch, head of leasing UK at Hammerson, added: “As our customers’ most requested brand, Sephora’s launch at Bullring & Grand Central creates even more reasons to visit the destination, amplified further by a range of popular names in beauty exclusive to the Bullring store.”
