Longtime Santa Fe Place tenant gets a touch of color
Longtime Santa Fe Place department store adds touch of color with Sephora beauty boutique
Dragon Girl. Curvy Candy. Fuller Fig. Cruella. Lonely Heart. They are all making their debut at J.C. Penney in the Santa Fe Place mall — and no, they’re not roller-derby competitors or cartoon characters. They’re just a few of the snazzily named lip colors on offer at the city’s long-awaited first Sephora store.
The 1,500-square-foot makeup, skincare and fragrance emporium located within J.C. Penney opened in October.
“It’s been wonderful. Lots of interest,” said Natalie Hendrickson, J.C. Penney’s general manager. “I’ve been here three and a half years, and since the day I walked into the building, it’s been like, ‘When are you getting a Sephora, when are you getting a Sephora?’ ”
The Sephora corporate model is based on a giant assortment of both well-established and emerging beauty brands, along with the service of welltrained sales associates.
“I’ve had like four people at once all wanting color matches, and they’re willing to sit and wait. So I’ll say, ‘Let’s have a party. Tell me how you like this color on this person.’ They all get into it,” said sales associate Wanda Travis. “They’ll say, ‘Oh girl, that looks great on you. Oh, I love that color.’ It’s just like a girlfriend party.”
J.C. Penney, the century-old retailer of everything from sweatpants to washing machines, closed 138 stores earlier this year, 14 percent of its locations nationwide.
But since 2006, J.C. Penney has been quietly hatching a Plan B in response to declining sales, partnering with the French chain Sephora to open more than 600 locations in the 875 J.C. Penney stores across the country. The Santa Fe store has also recently transformed its full-service beauty salon into what is now called the Salon by InStyle ,a rebranding that has improved both equipment and product lines in an effort to lure more cutting-edge customers.
Among the bright lights and vibrant color palettes at the Sephora Inside J.C. Penney, Hendrickson said she’s seeing a new and different demographic from the store’s loyal older customer base. “We’ve had a lot of kids very interested, lots of 15-, 16-year-olds and up. Someone that has a car and their own money, up to 25.” She said the popularity of the singer Rihanna’s new Fenty Beauty line — recently named one of the 25 Best Inventions of the Year by Time magazine — has brought many shoppers into the store. “When they first rolled Fenty out, we weren’t open yet. So we had products no one else had anymore because they’d already sold out. It flew out.”
Shopper Renee Sandoval, who was intently examining the eyeshadow palettes by the cult favorite line Kat Von D Beauty, said she had just learned about the store from a friend that morning. “It is a big deal,” she said. “I thought it was going to be smaller, but it’s amazing.” Sandoval said she was delighted by the idea of not having to drive an hour to the nearest Sephora, where she has been shopping for three years. “I used to go to Albuquerque all the time. I know my sister does it as well, and so does my mom. And now we don’t have to.”
Sephora Inside J.C. Penney manager Laura Marino said that in addition to a younger crowd, “We also have our older locals that are coming in from the little farming communities all around. A lot of those ladies haven’t taken care of their skin and so we’ve been able to really guide those women, give them facials and teach them. We’ll do half the face and then say, ‘Now you do it.’ And then we watch them and guide them so that they can really learn not only how to put their makeup on, but how to take care of their face.”
According to Marino and Travis, popular skin-care lines include Ole Henriksen, Peter Thomas Roth, Josie Maran and Boscia. Besides Kat Von D, shoppers come in seeking makeup from brands such as Urban Decay, Benefit, Tarte and Nars. Best-selling fragrances include Yves Saint Laurent’s Black Opium and the Marc Jacobs Daisy collection.
Travis said that shoppers “support each other. And they have a great time.” “There is kind of a sorority feel, and it’s really fun,” Marino said.