What: The new format, to be first tested in 10 stores, will sell an inclusive mix of more than 170 masstige, prestige and mass brands from new, emerging and established companies. The offer will be available on jcp.com from 15 October.

Why it is important: JC Penney’s had to remake its beauty business due to the phaseout of its 15-year-old partnership with Sephora that expires in late 2022. The department store will now compete with both Kohl’s-Sephora and Target-Ulta. These new partnerships were disclosed in December 2020, when JC Penney’s emerged from seven months in bankruptcy proceedings.

Beginning in fall 2022, Penney’s will roll out the beauty shops to the rest of the 650-unit department store chain. The project is expected to be completed sometime in 2023. More brands will be added in the future.

Penney’s beauty shops will average approximately 2,000 square feet in size and be situated in the space vacated by Sephora. The beauty space is completely reimagined to be hyper inclusive.

Prior to Sephora, JC Penney’s stabs at the beauty business were generally unsuccessful. JC Penney’s salon business, on the other hand, has been consistently strong over the long haul. Consequently, the retailer is creating a synergistic connection between beauty and the salons.

The Strategy Behind Penney’s Beauty Redux