Next time you’re browsing your local bookstore, you might find a new ‘b’ in among your Balzac and Belloc. Barnes & Noble is rolling out a new beauty section in College stores after a successful trial in three on-campus stores.
The new format will boast premium lines from Smashbox, Bliss, Lipstick Queen and Philosophy as well as popular drugstore brands Burt’s Bees, CoverGirl and Maybelline New York. Named, The Glossary, the new section is designed to encourage in-store experimentation and carries a different color scheme to the remainder of the store.
“Through in-depth student discussions and focus groups, we recognized a gap in access to beauty solutions on campus and worked with them to help shape The Glossary,” Lisa Mazzio, Director of Merchandise, Fashion Trends and Beauty, Barnes & Noble College., told Drug Store News “Their feedback informed the categories and brands we sell, the look and layout of the stores themselves, and the format that inspires self-discovery rather than in-aisle beauty consultants, which students expressed were less desired.”
“I’ve always been intrigued by the success of Sephora. We actually had some dialogue with them a number of years ago to see if they wanted to explore coming into our store and creating a store within a store,” Joel Friedman, Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer at Barnes & Noble told Racked.
As yet, there are no plans to extend the beauty in a bookstore format beyond college campus stores.