While retail commentators have spent years predicting the slow death of the shop floor, Europe's biggest beauty and wellbeing brands are doing the opposite, and doing it fast. Rituals Cosmetics has launched one of the continent's largest retail transformations to date, investing €40m to renew 1,500 boutiques across 30 countries in just 30 working days, a compressed timeline that stands in sharp contrast to the multi-year phased refits most retailers attempt. With digital sales already above 20% of Rituals' €2.43bn revenue, the Amsterdam-based brand isn't retreating from stores as online grows; it's doubling down on them.
"Physical retail remains essential to bringing our brand experience to life," said Gregory Bruyer, CCO of Rituals. The renewed concept centres on a unified 'Beauty World' bringing skincare, make-up, hair care and fragrance into one space, delivered by roughly 100 teams renovating more than 40 boutiques per working day between 3 August and 25 September 2026, a logistical operation few retailers of any category have attempted at this speed.
Rituals isn't alone. Douglas, Continental Europe's largest beauty retailer with a 23% market share across its core markets, is progressing toward opening 200 new stores and refurbishing 400 existing ones by the end of 2026, including a new Luxury Flagship Store in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, built around premium brands and K-Beauty. "We have the strength and ambition to further grow and also expect momentum from the ongoing expansion of our store network and by tapping into new markets," said Sander van der Laan, CEO of Douglas Group. Meanwhile Sephora has opened its first UK boutique format store on Carnaby Street, a smaller, more localised concept designed around changing high street shopping habits rather than the traditional big-box format.
What deserves closer attention from retail landlords and developers is what this signals about the kind of physical space beauty brands now want. These aren't simple refits, they're demanding higher footfall locations, larger format experiential space for services like consultations and product trials, and faster fit-out turnaround than most landlords are used to accommodating. Industry data shows physical stores still play a role in over 80% of beauty customer journeys, even as online purchasing grows, because most products can't be returned once opened and shoppers still want to test before they buy. For shopping centre and high street landlords who have spent recent years anxious about beauty and personal care as a category, this wave of investment suggests the opposite conclusion: these brands see stores not as a legacy cost centre but as their most valuable marketing channel, and they're willing to pay and move fast to secure the right space.
That shift has real implications for how retail leasing negotiations play out over the next 12 months. Beauty and wellbeing brands able to move at Rituals' pace, or Douglas's scale, are increasingly the tenants best positioned to negotiate favourable terms on prime units, precisely because landlords are competing for occupiers who can prove they still drive footfall in an omnichannel world. As e-commerce fatigue sets in among some shoppers and brands rediscover the commercial value of sensory, in-person experience, retail real estate professionals may find beauty is quietly becoming one of the most reliable anchor categories in prime European retail locations.
People mentioned
- Gregory Bruyer, Chief Commercial Officer, Rituals Cosmetics
- Sander van der Laan, Chief Executive Officer, Douglas Group
Image Source: Douglas | Rituals
Companies mentioned
- Rituals Cosmetics, Amsterdam-based beauty and wellbeing brand investing €40m in a 30-day store transformation
- Douglas, Continental Europe's largest beauty retailer expanding and refurbishing its store network
- Sephora, global beauty retailer opening a new boutique format store in London
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