After 12 years, Australian clean beauty brand Grown Alchemist has opened its first physical retail store in a brick-clad, heritage-listed building in the Melbourne inner-city suburb of Carlton. The Retail Lab enables customers to purchase natural skincare, haircare and supplements directly from the brand in an offline environment, but the real appeal is the range of treatments and therapies it offers. Light therapy to combat acne and signs of ageing, drip therapy to counteract the dehydrat
counteract the dehydrating effects of drinking alcohol and relaxing facials are just some of the treatments that customers can receive at the Carlton store, which officially opened on November 4.
The concept is a reflection of the holistic approach to skincare that has been at the heart of Grown Alchemist since it was founded by brothers Jeremy and Keston Muijs in 2008.
“We’re not about pushing products,” Jeremy, the brand’s CEO, told Inside Retail.
“We have things in tubes and bottles like a traditional skincare company, but our fundamental belief is that beauty and youth stem from function in the body, and that’s driven by one key ingredient called health. Our focus has always been around creating optimal function in the body, and the only way to do that is by taking a holistic approach. That means that while counters and skin potions and lotions are important, so are treatments and therapies.”
Brothers Jeremy and Keston Muijs started the clean skincare brand in 2008. Image: Supplied
Selling services, not products
While Grown Alchemist was never interested in opening stores just for the sake of selling products, the rest of the retail industry has only recently come around to this way of thinking.
Now it’s common practice for direct-to-consumer brands to open stores that are more focused on services and experiences than sales — like online mattress pioneer Casper’s The Dreamery, where customers can book 45-minute nap sessions. And even traditional retailers have started offering more services in their stores.
The recently renovated womenswear department in David Jones’ Elizabeth Street flagship in Sydney houses a beauty salon where customers can get blowdries and makeup applications, and Mecca’s new store in the Gowings Building — also in Sydney — features closed-door consultation spaces for appointments with naturopaths and other service providers.
“Traditional transactional retail is not really required anymore, particularly in beauty,” said Jeremy. “Once the customer has understood what they should buy, the most efficient way to purchase is online.”
Grown Alchemist already sells online through its own global e-commerce site, as well as luxury marketplaces like Net-A-Porter. It’s also stocked in upmarket department stores around the world, including Harrods, Nordstrom, David Jones and Takashimaya.
In contrast to these channels, the primary purpose of the Retail Lab is to communicate the brand’s skincare philosophy and deliver services to customers. The brand plans to open more Retail Labs, although the exact timing and location of these stores are still up in the air.
“As weird as it sounds to say, the financial modelling of the store is secondary,” Jeremy said.
“First and foremost is the ability to communicate what we stand for and why we stand for it, and to really do that properly, a physical retail store is vital for us. It’s not a flag-waving exercise.”
Improving customers’ skin while they shop
Designed in collaboration with celebrated architectural firm Herbert & Mason, the Retail Lab has an industrial vibe in keeping with the brand’s modern apothecary aesthetic. But it goes beyond just the look of the store — every aspect was carefully chosen to evoke Grown Alchemist’s skincare philosophy.
“For me, everything from the way your product is designed, to the way your retail store is designed, to the thinking behind the store, is telling you something,” Jeremy said. “It should be a lead-in to what to expect from the brand and the product.”
For instance, the Retail Lab features a ‘cleanroom’ with an innovative air-purifying filtration system that removes skin-ageing toxins to start improving customers’ skin from the moment they walk in the door. There’s also a digital sign with the current air quality reading on the outside of the store. All of this helps communicate the brand’s belief that skincare products alone are not the solution.
“It’s not about the architecture, it’s about the function, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be sexy and visually stimulating and appealing,” Jeremy said.
