Bluemercury is a chain of American beauty stores founded in 1999 by Marla Malcolm Beck and Barry Beck in

Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Georgetown is a historic neighborhood, and commercial and entertainment district located in Northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751 in the Province of Maryland, the port of Georgetown predated the establish ...

The stores sell cosmetics, as well as in-store facials and spa treatments. In addition to selling products from other brands, the company developed its own M-61 skincare line in 2012 and Lune+Aster make-up line in 2015. The company was acquired in 2015 by

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

, which opened in-store Bluemercury shops in its department stores, as well as expanding the number of free-standing stores.

History

Bluemercury was founded in 1999 as an online shopping website for luxury cosmetics. The co-founders Marla Malcolm (later Marla Malcolm Beck) became CEO and Barry Beck became COO. However, luxury brands that Bluemercury courted were unsure whether they wanted to sell their goods on the internet, while consumers were not accustomed to buying cosmetics without trying them first. The couple found two struggling independent beauty boutiques in Georgetown and

Dupont Circle Dupont Circle (or DuPont Circle) is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW ...

called EFX, which they used to help fill their online orders. They bought and rebranded the stores "Bluemercury," converting them to their developing concept, a neighborhood store offering beauty products, personalized advice and samples. By 2006, Bluemercury was generating $17 million in annual revenue and operated 12 stores. In June 2006, the Becks sold a stake in the company to the private-equity firm Invus Group. In July 2021, Maly Bernstein was announced as new CEO effective September 2021.

Macy's acquisition

The Becks sold the company to

Macy's Inc. Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus ( ...

for $210 million in 2015, while retaining their positions as CEO and COO. Macy's added Bluemercury stores, called "shop-in-shops", inside some of its own department stores; the first, three in California and one in Houston, were launched in 2016. As of October 29, 2022, there are 20 Macy's locations that feature a Bluemercury store-within-store.

Retail stores

Bluemercury stores are designed to be small, drugstore-like shops near residential and business areas. Each store location has a spa and provides other services. The stores' collection of brands includes SkinCeuticals, Nars,

Bobbi Brown Bobbi Brown (born in April 14, 1957) is an American professional make-up artist, author, and the founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. She created ten natural-shade lipsticks which according to ''Entrepreneur'' "revolutionized the beauty industry". ...

, and

Laura Mercier Laura Mercier (born Michèle Mercier on 2 October 1960) is a French makeup artist and businesswoman. Early life Laura Mercier was born as Michèle Mercier in Arles, France, on 2 October 1960, the youngest of three daughters. At 16, she enrolled ...

, among others. In 2016, the company opened its 100th store, in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

. At 2,400 square feet, it was their first entry into a larger store-size retail format. In 2017, the company opened a 2,700 square-foot flagship store in Manhattan, its 145th store.

Products

Bluemercury opened its own cosmetics design laboratory, M-61 Laboratories, in 2006. In 2015, the company launched Lune+Aster. The company's cosmetics are not tested on animals; are paraben-free and

phthalate Phthalates (, ), or phthalate esters, are esters of phthalic acid. They are mainly used as plasticizers, i.e., substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity. They are used primarily to soften ...

-free; and most are vitamin-infused,

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

, and

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain cereal grains. Although "gluten" often only refers to wheat proteins, in medical literature it refers to the combination of prolamin and glutelin proteins naturally occurring in all grain ...

-free.

References

External links

* {{MacysInc Macy's, Inc. Retail companies of the United States American companies established in 1999 Retail companies established in 1999 2015 mergers and acquisitions Beauty stores 1999 establishments in Washington, D.C. Beauty salons