The cosmetics industry is downright complicated. Selling the products are one thing. You’ve got traditional department store cosmetics counters, private label brands shops like L’Occitane, and even discount outlets like Target or CVS. Time Magazine has a ‘Style & Design’ supplement in Spring issues (probably still on newsstands) that tries to make sense of how a typical Sephora store is set up. Understanding the products is completely another. Why is one ultra high end skin cream better than another bargain one? Lots of it is based on claims often times with a thin veil of science. So it’s still surprising that are still new retailers entering this market hoping to have that unique product that will lure women, ok and maybe even a few stray men in to part with some cash.
Missha is about as new a company as you’ll find. Missha hails from South Korea and started in 2000 as an internet available only brand. Two years later the first shop was opened there. The brand quickly gained success and by 2004, the 200th shop was opened in South Korea. The company has made an effort to expand beyond Asia and opened it’s first US store in New York last year in Midtown. I stopped by soon after it opened and my initial impression was that it seemed pretty bare bones and in line with a discount price point. The company recently opened their second New York location on Broadway in Soho and that location is much more dynamic.
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