Cosme, styled @cosme, will launch its first store in Thailand this November at IconSiam, a luxury mall located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River.
For those who may be unfamiliar with the brand, the Japanese beauty mega-chain is a cult favorite among beauty product addicts, and is basically the Shinjuku-born version of Sephora. There are currently 25 @cosmo stores in Japan and four other chains throughout Asia.
This first @cosme store in Thailand will open on Friday, Nov. 2, and will cover a whopping 300 sqm. The shop is set to carry over 5,000 products from 600 Japanese brands — and that’s just 80 percent of their entire product selection, according to Brand Inside.
@cosmo store is the first child of a recent joint venture between Istyle Inc., a Tokyo-headquartered cosmetic giant, and Siam Piwat Group, a Bangkok-based retail and real estate developer that was behind luxury malls such as Siam Paragon and Siam Discovery.
Their joint venture Istyle Retail Thailand Co Ltd. will launch the @cosme website for Thai shoppers looking to get their retail therapy fix online.
At a value of THB320 billion (US$90 million), Thailand’s beauty market is the biggest in the ASEAN region, according to Kei Sugawara, Instyle’s chief financial officer. This, in his eyes, presents a golden opportunity, since cosmetic imports from Japan to Thailand currently only make up 2% of all cosmetics sales in the country.
In the next three years, the partners plan to open four more @cosme stores in Thailand, and estimate that the project has the potential to bring in around THB300 million (US$9 million) in sales.
So save up, J-beauty enthusiasts — you’re probably about to spend some big bucks.
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