Sephora launches biggest heartland store in Westgate

The all-new Sephora store at Westgate is now 50 per cent bigger and is the biggest in the heartlands at 5,300 sq ft. ST PHOTO: ANKITA VARMA

SINGAPORE - Beauty lovers can now shop at a brand new Sephora store at Jurong East mall, Westgate, from Thursday (Feb 1).

Moving over from its previous location at Jem mall, which is next to Westgate, the new store is now 50 per cent bigger and is the biggest in the heartlands at 5,300 sq ft.

Besides the larger space, the new store will be replicating the experience found in the brand's flagship store at ION Orchard, with two dedicated event spaces and double the seating space for their beauty master classes - up to 12 compared to six at the previous store at Jem.

It is the first store in the heartlands to offer these dedicated event spaces, which were previously only available in city stores.

The bigger store also means a wider product assortment than before. The new Westgate store will offer close to 130 beauty brands and is one of two stores on the island to sell MAC cosmetics. The only other store that does so is Sephora in VivoCity.

With its 63 screens and a ribbon-inspired facade, the new store looks different from the brand's 10 other stores here. Sephora has two other heartland stores at Nex in Serangoon and Tampines 1.

Mathieu Sidokpohou, managing director, markets and new ventures, Sephora SEA, said that the move to Westgate had been a year in the works given the brand wanted to offer a better and bigger beauty space to their customers in the West.

The brand closed their Jem store at 6pm on Wednesday (Jan 31) ahead of the new store opening at 12pm on Thursday (Feb 1).

"We jumped at the opportunity when it presented itself and this store is unique in that it's much bigger, with improved lighting and a more open-concept layout," he said. "We see Jurong as a hub of the future and we are excited to Pioneer quite a lot of new design concepts in this store."

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There was a snaking queue of more than 400 people, across two floors, waiting outside for the new store to open its door at noon on Thursday (Feb 1). The first few in line started queuing at 4pm on Wednesday (Jan 31).

Nadia Ferina, a student who started queuing at 4pm on Wednesday (Jan 31) and queued overnight ahead of the opening, was the first in line and received a $100 voucher to shop at the store, as did the 99 people after her. The next 100 in line received a $20 voucher.

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Said the 17-year old of the new store: "I'm really excited to shop and I'm looking forward to using my voucher to buy Fenty makeup products. I live at Lakeside so I'm happy this store is only 20 minutes away from me."

Ms Jyotika Limbu, who is a resident of Aljunied and travelled all the way for the opening, was also very excited about the new store.

The housewife started queuing at 430pm on Wednesday (Jan 31) and said that she was planning to spend her voucher on Estée Lauder products.

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