Cosmetics Wars
Cosmetics wars: Bluemercury joins crowded makeup fray with new Houston tore
Houston's makeup wars are heating up in the battle for the lucrative cosmetics customer.
Bluemercury, a U.S. chain of luxury beauty product stores and spas, plans to open its first stand-alone Houston store in Rice Village in May. It will be the second Texas store for the chain, which operates a Dallas boutique in Highland Park Village.
The Houston boutique, which will be located at 2507 University Boulevard at Kelvin, is part of an upgrade of the venerable Rice Village shopping center, which is adding new upscale tenants amid facade enhancements, landscaping and improvements in parking.
The boutique will carry best-selling brands Laura Mercier, Trish McEvoy and NARS, as well as its own popular cosmetics labels Lune+Aster and M-61, along with niche favorites Revive, Moroccan Oil and Oribe. It will also offer a full menu of signature spa treatments, including oxygen facials, glycolic peels, waxing and microdermabrasion.
“I have been watching the Texas market for years. The Houston clientele is one of the most chic I have seen in the country, with a sense of style and fashion that’s akin to that of our New York City customer,” Bluemercury co-founder and CEO Barry Beck said in a statement. “We are eager to join the luxury retail community at Rice Village and to service its customers as the local, go-to luxury beauty destination.”
Founded in Washington, D.C. in 1991 by Beck and his wife, Marla Malcolm Beck, the chain was sold to Macy's last year, but the couple remains in charge. The Becks were recently in Houston to open a Bluemercury shop at the Macy's Memorial City store. It is one of four Macy's stores (the others are in California) to launch a "shop-in-shop" location featuring the Bluemercury concept.
The label joins the increasingly crowded Houston cosmetics market. In addition to large cosmetics sections in all major department stores, NARS Cosmetics is opening a stand-alone store in River Oaks District and Sephora has six stores in the Houston area, including a stand-alone store in Rice Village at 2401 Times Boulevard.