Sephora’s slow and steady physical rollout in the UK continues to make a big impression with consumers.

Across the weekend the French beauty retail giant opened two new destinations in the North East — at Newcastle’s Eldon Square and Gateshead’s Metrocentre — join two London stores in that opened March and November last year. Another stores is in Manchester and Birmingham Bullring plus Bluewater will open this winter.

Thousands of shoppers turned out for the new openings with many joining the queues at 5pm the prior evening.

And as a further bonus for the Eldon Square, is operator said footfall was up 14% on the day of Sephora’s opening.

At the openings, Sarah Boyd, managing director, Sephora UK, said: “The North East gave us the best Geordie welcome. Opening two incredible stores at the exact same time is a bold step, taken out of a real recognition of the vibrant and exciting beauty community in the region.”

The new Eldon Square location measures 6,515 sq ft of total floor space with The Metrocentre location coming in at  6,180 sq ft.

Matthew Beddow, Eldon Square Director, said: “Adding Sephora… has been a huge move for us and we are proud to host the beauty retailer and to bring its plethora of brands to shoppers in Newcastle. The footfall and huge interest in the opening are positive signs, and we are confident that Sephora will provide an additional boost to revenue, sales and visitor figures for the second half of 2024.”

Sephora’s last UK physical retail adventure ended in 2005 when it shut its store at the Bluewater mall in Kent. However, the brand returned to Britain digitally via its purchase of the Feelunique beauty webstore that it rebranded and relaunched as Sephora in 2022.