The Armani boutiques opening at high-end malls in the metros are expected to be operational in the next 10 days
Mumbai: Global SS Beauty Brands (GSSBB), the distribution arm of Shoppers Stop, will open the next two Armani Beauty boutiques in Bengaluru and Mumbai, Biju Kassim, chief executive officer of Shoppers Stop’s beauty business told IndiaRetailing. GSSBB opened India’s first Armani beauty store at DLF Promenade in Delhi on 7 November.
GSSBB has a distribution partnership with L’Oreal International Division, which houses Giorgio Armani, Prada, YvesSaintLaurent, Valentino, Mugler, Viktor & Rolf, Azzaro, Ralph Lauren, Maison Margiela and Atelier Cologne Paris among others.
“The second Armani beauty boutique in the country is in Bengaluru and it opened yesterday (17 November),” the CEO said. The store would be open to the public in a couple of days.
“The third will be at the Jio World Drive in Mumbai. In all probability, the third Armani boutique will open in the next 10 days,” he added.
The 350 sq. ft. stores will showcase some of the brand’s leading products like Power Fabric Foundation, Lip Maestro, and Lip Power lipsticks, Eye Tint alongside the fragrance collections, among which are Acqua Di Gio, Armani Code, SÌ, and My Way. They will will also offer Haute Couture fragrances collection ARMANI/PRIVÉ and skincare line, with the signature anti-aging range Crema Nera.
“Being a boutique, they will have a good representation of the beauty products—makeup, skincare and fragrances. Hence, a size of 300 to 500 sq. ft. is what is desirable,” shared the beauty retail veteran, who took over the reins of the chain’s beauty business as President—Beauty in January 2022.
“We planned three Armani boutiques in the country one after the other as it was important for us to be visible on key metros. This what is in the pipeline for Armani is for the moment. We will keep looking at new avenues and new locations and consider if something good comes up,” the CEO said speaking about the plans for Armani.
In addition to Armani from the Loreal basket, GSSBB also runs a pop-up store of Maison Margiela at Jio World Drive in Mumbai.
“We are also looking out for some ideal spaces for Maison Margiela and if we get something nice, we will go into a boutique also in the near future,” shared Kassim.
Shoppers Stop also recently opened exclusive stores of Bobbi Brown and Jo Malone London from Estée Lauder at DLF Promenade in New Delhi a few days before the Armani Boutique.
Beauty has been Shoppers Stop’s strength since its launch in 1991 and it pivoted from being a department store-only company to a distributor of international beauty brands in February 2022 by launching GSSBB as a 100% subsidiary.
In the second quarter of the financial year 2025, the beauty distribution business under GSSBB clocked sales of Rs 52 crore registering a year-on-year growth of 130% as per the company’s quarterly results.
