Home fragrance retailers, especially European-based brands, are slowly but surely opening more stores throughout the U.S. These tenants differ from the traditional North American-based brands, such as The White Barn Candle Co. or Bath & Body Works, by offering a more elevated and elegant approach to this category. Foot traffic at these upscale home scent shops is guaranteed as customers that may be hesitant to purchase these items online would rather shop in-store to personally smell the scents. Favored real estate sites include higher-end shopping centers with cosmetics retailers, home décor, apparel and jewelers as desired co-tenants.
This niche home fragrance retail concept satisfies the need for a mood-boosting purchase that is still cheaper than other luxury items such as furniture or perfume. The merchandise also appeals to those shopping for higher-end unique gifts. Home fragrance stores tap into multiple popular themes that are currently trending with the millennial and Gen Z-aged shoppers, including aromatherapy for mind/body wellness and aspirational home décor. Products sold at these home fragrance stores can include diffusers, candles, mists, soaps, eau de toilette sprays, essential oils or lotions. Some of the European-based retailers that are boosting up their U.S. presence include Jo Malone London, Diptyque and Maison Berger Paris.
Jo Malone London, a British fragrance brand that was acquired by Estee Lauder in 1999, opened its first standalone store in the U.S. back in 2001 and there are now 31 standalone units in the country. On a mission to continue expanding, expect to see between three and five new store openings this year, with that number potentially increasing to five to eight stores in 2025. Jo Malone London prefers spaces in the 1,000- to 2,500-s.f. range, in higher-end shopping centers, regional centers and lifestyle centers in major metros, as well as in growing tertiary markets. January saw a new store open in the Westfield Galleria in Roseville, Calif., and last fall a store opened at the Market Street mixed-use town center in The Woodlands, Texas, as well as at the Easton Town Center shopping center in Columbus, Ohio.
The new Jo Malone London stores feature a “Tasting Table,” in which customers can mix and match the available scents to create their own signature perfume that can be used in products such as home diffusers or body lotions. Complimentary engraving is also available, as so many of the items sold are gift purchases. Other in-store services include hand and arm massages. Jo Malone has great customer awareness as its products are sold in popular retailers such as Sephora, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom and Macy’s. Aware that its customers may be feeling the pinch of their wallets during these inflationary times, Jo Malone London is now selling its fragrances in smaller travel-sized containers and will also be providing less expensive products, such as hair mists. Jo Malone London sells home fragrances, candles, diffusers, perfumes and body creams.
The Parisian-based Diptyque also opened its first store in the states back in 2001 in Boston — which has since closed — but that location was followed by still-standing stores in Los Angeles and New York City. It was not until early 2023 that Diptyque began aggressively targeting more secondary markets, and the brand now has 28 locations in nine states, including Florida, Texas, Washington, D.C., Michigan, Nevada, Illinois and Georgia. Upcoming locations, at a rate of up to two to five new stores per year, are being eyed in higher-end tourist-driven metros in the Carolinas, as well as possibly Tennessee, Colorado, Arizona and Connecticut.
Ideal spaces are between 640 and 2,500 s.f. in Class A shopping centers, regional centers, lifestyle centers and street-front sites. Diptyque has recently been redesigning its older stores to more closely resemble Parisian-style interiors. Known for its luxury candles, Diptyque has been expanding its merchandise offerings and now sells decorative tableware products, as well as scented body care items and home fragrances.
Maison Berger Paris, a French-based luxury home fragrance brand, expects to open its first store in the U.S. by spring 2024 with a 729-s.f. unit in the Shops at Merrick Park, an upscale open-air shopping center in Coral Gables, Fla. The store will act as a testing ground before Maison Berger determines its further U.S. growth plans, but the retailer did indicate interest in expanding into new markets. Likely future locations that would appeal to Maison Berger Paris would be upscale shopping centers in metros where a large portion of the population is in a high-income bracket, including the coastal metros in California, as well as Scottsdale, Ariz., Austin, Denver, New York City, Boston, and the Washington, D.C., metro area. The brand already has name recognition in the U.S., as its products are sold in Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom stores. Maison Berger Paris is known for its decorative, air purifying lamps that also emit fragrances. The stores carry other items such as scented candles and diffusers.
