Ulta Beauty, Inc., formerly known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. and before 2000 as Ulta3, is an American chain of beauty stores headquartered in

Bolingbrook, Illinois The village of Bolingbrook is a southwest suburb of Chicago in Will and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 73,922. As of 2010, it is the 17th largest incorporated place in Illinois and the sta ...

. Ulta Beauty carries both high-end and low-end

cosmetics Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

fragrances An aroma compound, also known as an odorant, aroma, fragrance or flavoring, is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor. For an individual chemical or class of chemical compounds to impart a smell or fragrance, it must be sufficiently vo ...

nail Nail or Nails may refer to: In biology * Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail * Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...

products, bath and body products, beauty tools and haircare products. Each store also has a

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and medical spas. Beauty treatments Massage for the body is a ...

History

Ulta was founded by Richard E. George, the former President of

Osco Drug, Inc. Osco Drug and Sav-on Drugs were the names of a pair of chain store, chain pharmacy, pharmacies that operated in the United States. Osco Drug was founded by the Skaggs family. Alpha Beta grocery store was purchased by American Stores in 1961. S ...

, and Terry Hanson. George left work at Osco in 1989 in order to develop a business plan for a retailer that would offer beauty products at different price levels. Other Osco executives joined George and Hanson in the business, and raised $11.5 million in venture capital. The company, initially called Ulta3, was launched in 1990 with five stores in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

suburbs. The name was changed from Ulta3 to Ulta at the end of 1999. George left Ulta3 in 1995, and Hanson became the company's Chief Executive Officer. In December 1999, Lyn Kirby became the President and chief executive officer and Charles "Rick" Weber became Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. On October 25, 2007, the company became publicly traded on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

. In 2008, the company opened a second distribution center in

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. In 2010 Carl "Chuck" Rubin was appointed as Chief Operating Officer, President, and as a member of the board of directors. Ulta Beauty Ann Arbor

On June 24, 2013, it was announced that Mary Dillon would be appointed as chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2013. Dillon was previously the chief of U.S. Cellular and a senior executive at

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

and

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...

. In 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic there were 44,000 employees. As of 2021, Ulta employs approximately 37,000 people.

Operations

Ulta Beauty offers both high-end and drugstore cosmetics, skincare, and fragrances, in addition to its own brands of beauty products and fragrances. They sell brands such as MAC Cosmetics,

Kylie Cosmetics Kylie Cosmetics, LLC is an American cosmetics company founded by Kylie Jenner. The company began selling Kylie Lip Kits, a liquid lipstick and lip liner set, on November 30, 2015. Formerly known as Kylie Lip Kits, the company was renamed Kylie Co ...

, and

ColourPop cosmetics ColourPop Cosmetics, also known as ColourPop, is an American cosmetics brand based in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded in 2014 by siblings Laura and John Nelson. ColourPop products are sold through their website and at Ulta Beauty. ...

. Ulta Beauty sales were $713.8 million for the first quarter ending in May 2014. At the end of the second quarter ending in August 2014, Ulta Beauty reported that total sales increased by 22.2 percent and comparable store sales increased 9.6 percent. As of 2019, Ulta had stores in 48 states. A majority of Ulta Beauty stores are located in the East Coast region and in California. In August 2021, the retail chain

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

started selling Ulta's products. Ulta's joined in the 15 Percent Pledge, which dedicates more store shelf space to Black-owned businesses. On July 8, 2022, Ulta announced its collaboration with '' Allure'' to bring a collection of its 25,000 products to ''Allure''’s online and offline stores. The collaboration will run from July to September 2022 and includes brands like

Fenty Beauty Fenty Beauty (stylized as FEИTY BEAUTY) is a cosmetics brand by Rihanna, that was launched on September 8, 2017. Popular for its broad inclusivity across various skin tones, its Pro Filt'R foundation became high-demand upon first release. The o ...

, Drybar, Olaplex, Tula, The Ordinary, Peter Thomas Roth, CosRX, NYX, Morphe, and Beekman 1802 selected by Ulta's merchandising team.

References

External links

* {{Finance links , name = Ulta Beauty , symbol = ULTA , sec_cik = ULTA , yahoo = ULTA , google = ULTA Companies based in Will County, Illinois Companies listed on the Nasdaq Bolingbrook, Illinois Beauty stores Retail companies established in 1990 Retail companies of the United States American companies established in 1990 1990 establishments in Illinois 2007 initial public offerings