Cosmetic chain Sephora finally opened its doors in Malibu last week
Malibu, Calif. – Malibu Village welcomed beauty conglomerate Sephora on Friday, attracting many locals as well as tourists to the store’s grand opening.
According to the store manager Dustin Whittenberg, several eager shoppers had formed a waiting line to get into the store before its doors opened promptly at 10 a.m. In celebration of its grand opening, shoppers were treated with a free makeup bag with any in-store purchase.
Sephora is the third beauty and cosmetic store in the Malibu Country Mart and Malibu Village area, in addition to the already-existing Beauty Collection and MAC. But Whittenberg, who has been with the Sephora chain for five years now, is confident that the proximity of the other stores will not threaten sales and the stores will be be able to maintain a friendly relationship.
“We don’t carry MAC products so it’s not like they will be losing customers to us and vice versa,” he says. “And Beauty Collection sent us a nice bunch of flowers today so I’m sure they already love us.”
As a mainstream business, Sephora adds a different feel to the traditionally high-end boutique stores of the Village. With other mainstream businesses such as Quiksilver and Chipotle scheduled to open in Malibu in the coming months as well, some local residents worry that Malibu will become an even greater tourist haven.
But Whittenberg maintains that this Sephora branch is merely a one-stop beauty store “primarily for local residents and Pepperdine students to get their beauty essentials without having to drive at least 15 miles.” Prior to the Malibu store, the closest stores were the Santa Monica, Topanga, and Thousand Oaks branches.
Sephora is located at 3896 Cross Creek Road, in between Wells Fargo and Marmalade’s. It is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.—7 p.m. and on Sundays from 11a.m.—6 p.m.
As of right now, Pepperdine students are not entitled to a special student discount, but they are encouraged to fill in an application and send in a resume if they are interested in a store position.
