Another interesting store which Julia from Beautyjagd and I visited last week was Beauty Library in Omotesando, just off Aoyama-dori street. Beauty Library opened in June 2015 and is run by Japanese beauty company Nature’s Way.
The retail concept for Beauty Library was created by renowned Japanese design agency Nendo: a concept store presenting organic and natural cosmetics like library information, with an attached café serving healthy foods and beverages.
And Beauty Library is indeed a beautiful store with a generous glass-fronted entrance, plenty of light and free-standing wooden product shelves that really do look a bit like library shelves.
Nature’s Way is a rather interesting company, by the way; they started out by importing Western beauty brands – in 1976, they introduced German organic beauty brand Weleda in Japan – and they are the official Japanese distributor for Sanders Perry from the US. In addition, Nature’s Way manufactures colour cosmetics brand Naturaglacé, skin and body care brand Chant-a-Charm, hair care brand Yumedreaming Epicurean and premium skin and body care range Biolab.
The cosmetics in the store are shelved according to product category and the line-up includes some 30 beauty brands. Japanese entries include face and body care brand ShiGeTa, home fragrance brand Kusu Handmade, nail brand Uka, skin care range Jasmine Aromatique, colour cosmetics label MiMC, hair care brand La Casta and of course Nature’s Way’s own brands Naturaglacé, Chant-a-Charm, Yumedreaming Epicurean, Sanders Perry and Biolab.
The rest of the brands are from Europe and the US and include some great niche brands – Frantsila from Finland, for example, Naobay from Spain, Alga Maris and GamArde from France, Danish skin care brand Derma Eco, US brand MeowMeow TweetTweet, Moroccan brand Fleur de Fatima and Herbfarmacy from the UK. The bigger names include Avalon Organics and Jason from the US, Weleda from Germany and Trilogy from Australia.
Several of the European brands have special products for the Japanese market that are only available in Japan; Frantsila, for example, offers two face oils which you can only buy in this country and there is an entire sub-brand – Frants – which I have never seen anywhere in Europe either. Very interesting.
The store has plenty of testers on the product shelves and on several large tables which are slotted into the shelf areas: tablet computers are available for customers to check out brands, ingredients and other beauty information. The products also have QR codes placed close-by so you can scan all the relevant info straight into your smartphone. And of course Beauty Library also operates an online shop.
Beauty Library also sells some health foods, household cleansers from Ecover and there is a café which serves a range of smoothies, juices, beverages, salads, sandwiches and little snacks – either for take-away or you can sit in the little café annexe. In the summer I’d imagine the patio area will be open; the café space would also be a great location for events and parties. Altogether a very convincing retail concept and a beautifully designed store – a visit is highly recommended. Try the khaki fruit juice while you’re there.
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 