Inside Sephora’s Edinburgh opening with UK Managing Director Sarah Boyd

Sarah Boyd, Managing Director UK at Sephora, gives Hood the insider track on the brand’s retail expansion in Scotland

Huge Sephora-branded balloons obscure the new store behind them, but even before the doors officially open, there is no missing the sense of anticipation. I’m here just as Sephora is about to open its first Scottish store at Edinburgh’s St James Quarter, with Glasgow’s Silverburn set to follow next month. Together, the launches mark a major moment for the beauty giant’s UK expansion and, if Sarah Boyd has her way, the start of a very big Scottish success story.

I meet Sephora UK Managing Director Sarah Boyd in-store at 9.30am, the day before the big opening. Beauty advisors are already moving around the space, final checks are under way and the atmosphere is buzzing. This is my first proper look inside the Edinburgh store, the one that has had Scottish beauty fans talking for months. Boyd, who has spent three decades in beauty across both brands and retail, is exactly the kind of person you want guiding you through it. She knows the business from every angle, but she also knows what beauty means to the people buying it.

A beauty career decades in the making

“I joined L’Oréal in my mid-twenties and I’ve been in beauty ever since,” she tells me. “I absolutely love the industry. There’s something about it that just makes you smile on a daily basis. Helping people feel like the best version of themselves feels so meaningful to me.”

Boyd spent the first half of her career on the brand side before moving into retail, a switch she says she loved even more. She then spent 15 years in Asia, first with a pharmacy retailer and then, for the last decade, with Sephora. Before returning to the UK, she was running the brand’s Asia Pacific business, all the while wondering why Sephora no longer had a British presence after its exit from the market in the noughties.

“The whole time I was there I was banging my head against the wall saying, I don’t understand why Sephora isn’t in the UK,” she says. “I remember it leaving 25 years ago and being devastated. So bringing it back has been a real labour of love.”

That sense of affection for the brand is clear, but so is her conviction that the modern Sephora is very different to the one some British shoppers might remember. The heart of the brand, she says, is still the same: inclusivity, excitement and a sense that everyone is welcome in the world of beauty. But the scale of the offer, the number of exclusive brands and the global recognition of Sephora have all transformed.

“We are still all about welcoming everybody, regardless of who you are, into the world of beauty,” she says. “Inclusivity and inspiration are absolutely our keystones. But we now have so much more differentiation, so many more exclusive brands and, because Sephora is in 37 countries, consumer awareness is much higher. When we came back to the UK, people were screaming out for us.”

Why Scotland, why now?

And nowhere, she believes, was that appetite clearer than in Scotland. Boyd is unequivocal when I ask why the brand was so keen to open here.

“The Scottish beauty community is incredibly passionate,” she says. “They are obsessed with all things beauty and wellness. We have wanted to be here for the whole three and a half years since we came back to the UK.”

In fact, St James Quarter was on Sephora’s radar from the start. Boyd says the team spotted this site early on and loved both the location and the mix of brands around it. The delay, she explains, was less about strategy and more about finding the right space. Sephora’s larger-format stores need room to deliver the full experience, and a 5,000 sq ft beauty “temple”, as Boyd describes it, is not always easy to secure. She adds that St James Quarter is such a great spot that units don’t actually come up very often - hence the wait.

Edinburgh, though, was only half the plan. Glasgow mattered just as much. One of the more interesting parts of Boyd’s strategy is that she wanted Sephora to open on both Scotland’s east and west coasts as close together as possible, rather than planting a flag in one city and waiting to see what happened.

“There is a friendly rivalry, of course,” she says, laughing, “but at the end of the day they are both incredible, vibrant beauty communities. We wanted to get to both of them as quickly as we could.”

That decision feels significant because, as anyone who has moved back to Scotland after living in London knows, brands do not always bring their best energy north of the border. Launches, activations and exclusives can all feel rather capital-centric. Boyd agrees that this is a trap brands can fall into.

“A lot of brands and retailers can be very London-centric,” she says. “They come to London and think, right, I’ve done the UK. But that’s not how the UK works. That’s definitely not how consumers think about brands.”

That is why, after opening Sephora’s first two stores on the outskirts of London to learn the market, Boyd made a deliberate call to focus on major cities across the rest of the UK before expanding further in the capital. Cardiff and Belfast came first. Now, Scotland. She believes the Edinburgh and Glasgow stores could be among Sephora’s strongest performers in the country.

“To be completely honest with you, I expect the sales and performance of these stores to be two of the best in the United Kingdom,” she says. “I really believe the Scottish consumer is going to show up for Sephora and the beauty.”

And Edinburgh and Glasgow may not be the end of Sephora’s Scottish story either. When I mention the possibility of the brand heading further north, towards Aberdeen, Boyd does not dismiss it. Instead, she points to Sephora’s new boutique-style concept, currently being trialled in central London, as a format that could eventually help the brand reach places without the footprint for one of its classic 5,000 sq ft beauty temples.

The smaller-format stores, at around 2,500 sq ft, are designed for high streets and locations where larger retail spaces simply do not exist. For now, Boyd is careful not to promise anything, but she is clear that the concept could open up opportunities beyond the major cities. For Scottish beauty shoppers outside Edinburgh and Glasgow, it is one to keep an eye on.

More than just another beauty shop

What Scottish shoppers can expect, she says, is not just another beauty shop, but a more immersive and discovery-led experience than many are used to. Sephora’s pitch sits somewhere between department store beauty counters and Boots-style practicality, but with a much bigger emphasis on play, advice and atmosphere.

“The experience starts with the people,” Boyd says. “We’ve hired more than 60 beauty advisors locally for Edinburgh alone and they’ve all been training for months, including working in other Sephora stores around the UK so they’re ready to deliver that experience from day one.”

That experience, she says, is meant to work whether you are a make-up obsessive, a skincare minimalist, a fragrance magpie or someone who finds beauty shopping overwhelming. Sephora wants to meet customers wherever they are on their beauty journey and make the store feel welcoming rather than intimidating.

There will also be plenty happening beyond the shelves. Boyd hints at a packed opening period, brand activations and an ongoing calendar of events designed to bring beauty communities back into store. Beauty services are a big part of that. One feature she is especially keen to highlight is Sephora’s Beauty Scan, a device that analyses the skin in detail, from hydration levels to fine lines, and can then recommend both skincare and foundation matches. Make-up services will also be available, from smaller eye looks to full makeovers, redeemable against in-store purchases.

The brands set to draw the crowds

If the immersive side of Sephora is what sets it apart, the brand line-up is what will get many shoppers through the door in the first place. Ask Boyd which brands she is most excited about and she laughs, admitting it is an impossible question for someone who tries everything. Still, a few names come quickly.

She points first to Sephora Collection, the retailer’s own label, which she describes as affordable, effective and a point of real pride across both make-up and skincare. Then there is Makeup by Mario, which Boyd clearly has a soft spot for thanks to founder Mario Dedivanovic’s own Sephora story, having started his career as a beauty advisor in a New York store. And, of course, there is Rhode, Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand, which Boyd says has been phenomenal since landing at Sephora.

She also lights up talking about K-beauty, particularly AESTURA, which she says has been transformative for her own rosacea-prone skin. INNBeauty Project is another favourite, especially, she notes, for women “more my age” whose skin is starting to change.

That last point matters because Sephora is not only thinking about all generations of beauty shoppers. One of the questions I had been asked to ask by Hood readers was what the retailer is doing around the tween market, an area that has become increasingly visible thanks to social media-driven skincare trends and younger consumers flocking to beauty stores. Boyd says it is something Sephora is taking seriously.

“We know younger customers are coming into store and we know there’s a real social following around beauty,” she says. “We want to make sure we’re taking the right level of responsibility and giving the right advice.”

Her answer is less about a specific “tween range” and more about training. Sephora’s beauty advisors, she says, are being carefully coached to advise younger shoppers and their parents appropriately, helping them navigate what is actually suitable rather than simply what is trending on TikTok.

“Fundamentally, we welcome absolutely everyone to the world of beauty,” she says. “We want everyone to feel inspired and feel like they have a home here.”

Why this may be just the beginning

So what, ultimately, does Sarah Boyd hope Scottish shoppers will take from Sephora’s arrival? Not just the chance to buy the brands they have seen online, but a sense of discovery, community and excitement. A place to browse, ask questions, play, learn and leave feeling better than when they walked in.

And if Boyd is right, Edinburgh and Glasgow will not simply be getting another beauty retailer. They will be getting two of the most talked-about beauty spaces in the country — and perhaps the start of something even bigger for Scotland’s beauty scene.

Inside the store…