Onda Beauty is reopening its shop in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood Friday under the control of co-founder Larissa Thomson, who acquired the clean beauty retailer out of bankruptcy.
On Oct. 6, Thomson won Onda’s assets, including its intellectual property, Tribeca location lease, website and social media accounts, with a $220,000 bid in an auction that followed former owner biotechnology company Amyris filing for Chapter 11 in August. Thomson, who founded Onda with Sarah Bryden-Brown in 2016, left the retailer shortly after Amyris acquired it for $4.9 million in April 2022.
“What I discovered in this past year is that this is really my passion. I feel what I’ve learned is that it’s my purpose,” says Thomson, adding, “My plan is to just focus on Tribeca, try to create more brand awareness, expand the community and really focus on creating the best possible experience both for our customers and for our staff.”
Onda’s Instagram account is now live. A new website is in the works as Thomson prioritizes the revival of its brick-and-mortar business. She’s tapped Tribeca company Jaimie Baird Design to enhance Onda’s interior design. Thomson says, “It’s going to have a slightly different feel inside, a bit richer in its textures and colors and just really warm and inviting, whereas before we were a bit more beachy with bleached-out woods.”
Onda has rehired previous staff members and brought on two new aestheticians and a new store manager. With Thomson, Onda’s headcount is at nine employees. The actress Naomi Watts, a former co-founder who departed Onda to launch the Amyris-owned menopause brand Stripes, won’t be returning. Currently the sole owner, Thomson is taking on an operational as well as curatorial role.
Upon reopening, Onda’s assortment will feature 52 clean beauty brands. Marie Veronique, Augustinus Bader, Tammy Fender, Venn, Westman Atelier, Ilia, Macrene Actives and Futuna Skin are among the brands that will be stocked on its shelves. Prior to leaving Onda last year, Thomson diligently tested each product before approving it for Onda, paying particular attention to the packaging, performance and sensory experience. Moving forward, she intends to pare down the assortment inherited from Amyris and inject fresh brands and categories into it.
“I’ll continue to vet and curate all of our products in order to offer the best in clean beauty,” says Thomson. “I am more of a fan of a tight, beautiful, curated edit. I don’t want to carry 20 different vitamin C products and then have to explain why we have 20 different vitamin C products.”
“What I discovered in this past year is that this is really my passion.”
Onda’s beauty services are coming back. Similar to its earlier menu, facials, massages and energy readings will be offered along with newer treatments like buccal massage. Further treatments like Ayurvedic massage are expected to join the service repertoire.
Reflecting on the Amyris acquisition, Thomson believes it was the right decision for Onda at the time. She had intended to sell the business from the start. While Thomson initially considered staying on post-acquisition, she realized that being a player in a bigger corporation wasn’t a fit. “Onda is an extension of myself. It came from the deepest parts of me,” she says. “To have to hand over the reins to such a large company and then work for them and answer to them for something that I gave birth to, I wouldn’t have made it.”
According to its 2022 annual report, Amyris accumulated a deficit of $2.9 billion. Via acquisition and incubation, it developed a portfolio of a dozen brands such as Biossance, JVN, Rose Inc, Stripes, Pipette, Costa Brazil, Menolabs and 4U By Tia. Costa Brazil was shuttered along with Onda a few days in advance of Amyris’s bankruptcy filing. Other brands are up for sale.
Onda had a Sag Harbor location that was shuttered, too, due to Amyris’s struggles. Its Hampton Bays location has become Sommetbeauty, a retail concept from former Onda CEO Jane Fernandez. Sommetbeauty briefly set up shop at Onda’s Tribeca location, but vacated after Thomson’s bid for Onda. Thomson says, “I fully support anybody who wants to launch a business in the clean space, and I fully support her.”
Thomson aims to expand Onda’s physical presence and introduce an in-house product line in the future. However, she’s in no hurry. Thomson says, “It feels so good to be back. Six months ago, I don’t think I would’ve seen this coming at all. I definitely want to keep what works and want to slowly evolve and elevate the experience.”
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