SKIN CARE AT THE PHARMACY

Look no further than your local Pharmaprix or Jean Coutu, and you’ll see a large portion of retail space taken up with skin care.

“At Jean Coutu and Brunet pharmacies, skin care is growing faster than the makeup and the fragrance categories,” says Jean Coutu communication manager Geneviève Grégoire. “And high-end brands appeal more and more to our Quebec customers. For 18 months now, Jean Coutu sells Estée Lauder and Clinique products, and has also added more locations with Clarins and Lancôme skin care, along with Quebec companies like Karine Joncas, IDC Dermo and Jouviance.”

Pharmacies are also ideal for budget shoppers, thanks to inexpensive brands like Olay, Neutrogena, Aveeno, CeraVe and Cetaphil. A stepup,thereareFrench pharmacy brands such as La Roche-Posay, Biotherm and Avène. Pharmacies’ frequent sales and points systems (like Pharmaprix’s Optimum card) can also result in discounts.

Catherine Masson, VP of the beauty category for Pharmaprix, says their Alexis Nihon store was the first to open a beauty boutique in Quebec, in 2003.

“It came at about the time the department stores started to struggle,” she says. “We saw it as an opportunity for us to pick up that customer, because we knew our female customer was interested in beauty and so are the men. Skin care is our biggest category, and we continue to see double-digit increases.”

Pharmaprix/Shoppers Drug Mart counts 421 beauty boutiques across Canada. Plans are underway for an enhanced beauty boutique — featuring luxury brands such as Chanel, Dior and YSL — in a Place Ville Marie Pharmaprix set to open in late fall.

Lesley Chesterman