The Detox Market Adds A Third Los Angeles Location At Shopping Center Westfield Century City

The Detox Market is taking a trip to the mall with its newest location at the shopping center Westfield Century City.

The diminutive 300-square-foot store joins the green beauty retailer’s Los Angeles area units in West Hollywood and Santa Monica, and follows the opening of its less than 400-square-foot outpost at Toronto’s Union Station in February. Marking The Detox Market’s debut at a traditional mall, the Century City store has a prime spot close to a Bloomingdale’s entrance and across from Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics.

“The biggest problem with clean beauty is that we don’t have a lot of visibility. It still a niche thing. By being in the best mall in LA in the best spot with a very big window, it’s a great way for people get exposed to the products, and try them to see how they work,” says Romain Gaillard, founder and CEO of The Detox Market. “My vision was to have a small footprint, high-visibility place to connect with the crowds at Century City.”

The Detox Market avoids plopping down stores that look the same in different cities as it grows. Designed with Suulin Architects, the Century City location features ash wood and diagonal shelving with colorful triangular metal pieces inserted into it. The shelving harkens back to crates that were in The Detox Market’s pop-up in Venice, Calif., eight years ago.

“The biggest problem with clean beauty is that we don’t have a lot of visibility. It still a niche thing. By being in the best mall in LA in the best spot with a very big window, it’s a great way for people get exposed to the products, and try them to see how they work.”

In the tight space at Century City, The Detox Market edited its selection from 150 to 53 brands, including top sellers Vintner’s Daughter, MV Skincare, Odacité, RMS Beauty, May Lindstrom, Innersense, Josh Rosebrook and Moon Juice. Gaillard comments makeup and natural deodorants are performing particularly well at the moment. “Deodorant used to be the worst way to introduce someone to green beauty and, now, it’s a great way,” he says. “Brands have done incredible work on their formulations.”

Gaillard acknowledges The Detox Market could suffer sales cannibalization by adding Century City to its retail network when shoppers accustomed to visiting its Santa Monica or West Hollywood locations who live or work close to Westfield Century City go to the most convenient option for them. His hope is that the Century City store increases The Detox Market’s customer base generally by persuading conventional beauty shoppers to purchase green beauty merchandise. He doesn’t anticipate it to become The Detox Market’s biggest sales driver.

“On a dollar per square foot basis, it’s going to be much higher [in sales], obviously, but the overall revenue will likely be lower than our other stores. The others are three times the size,” says Gaillard. Asked about the path to store profitability, he shares, “Every store is completely different. Some break even day one and some take a little longer. It really depends on how active we are in the community. For example, in Santa Monica, I used to live there, and we had the pop-up in Venice. We know a lot of yoga instructors and key influencers in that area. The second we opened, people were like, ‘Thank god, you are here.’”

“Usually, when people don’t know how to start, we tell them to try a lipstick or mascara. It doesn’t require you to completely change your life. You maybe won’t get them to convert to green beauty by telling them to change their night serum. It’s complicated and expensive. A mascara doesn’t need to be a big decision.”

Gaillard divulges six-unit The Detox Market plans to open an additional two locations this year, and three to four annually going forward. It isn’t the only clean beauty retailer multiplying locations. Follain recently planted stores in Bethesda, Md., and Seattle, and is expected to open eight more stores by the end of next year. Aillea traveled to Atlanta, Charleston and Raleigh after establishing its concept in Denver. Credo has eight locations spread throughout the U.S.

The Detox Market has brought on Nicolle Gabbay, former president of retail at American Apparel, as president of retail, and Jill Vanderzand, previously retail director at TNT The New Trend, as retail and operations director for Canada to guide its retail expansion. Gaillard says, “We needed people to help us scale up while also maintaining the same level of customer service and knowledge that we want in our stores.”

Direct clean beauty retail competition isn’t hurting The Detox Market. Gaillard says its business has doubled annually in each of the past three years. He welcomes the proliferation of clean beauty stores to raise awareness about clean beauty products. If anything affects The Detox Market’s sales negatively, it’s Amazon, according to Gaillard, and he emphasizes the retailer stands out from Amazon by offering superior customer service and personal touches like handwritten notes in packages.

At the Century City location, one to three store employees are on hand to cater to shoppers. They are trained to foster a positive environment in the store to encourage them to experiment with green beauty, often beginning with makeup. “Usually, when people don’t know how to start, we tell them to try a lipstick or mascara. It doesn’t require you to completely change your life,” says Gaillard. “You maybe won’t get them to convert to green beauty by telling them to change their night serum. It’s complicated and expensive. A mascara doesn’t need to be a big decision.”