Beauty halls Spending on cosmetics and fragrance is soaring

With their perfectly groomed and liveried assistants stood down during the pandemic, it seemed the department store beauty hall might have had its day. But temples of pampering are making a high street comeback as Britons prioritise looking good.

- Zoe Wood

This week, as part of a wider revamp of its Oxford Street store, John Lewis opened a new-look beauty hall that is nearly 25% bigger and rammed with 175 brands.

Rival chain Fenwick recently announced a transformation that created the "largest beauty hall outside London" in its Newcastle branch. Selfridges has also spent millions refurbishing the beauty floor in its main London store, also on Oxford Street.

The big investments make sense in the context of new data that shows spending on designer cosmetics, haircare and fragrance is booming. Britons spent just shy of £4bn on this in the 12 months to the end of September. This is £400m up - an increase of more than 10%.