Target is rolling out a new in-house beauty concept across more than 600 U.S. locations, replacing its former Ulta Beauty partnership with dedicated staff, product testing, and over 1,600 items from 90 brands.
The retailer calls the revamped sections "Target Beauty Studio," and the launch marks the most visible change to the company's store floors since it began experimenting with shop-in-shop partnerships years ago. More than two-thirds of the brands featured are new to Target's shelves, a signal that the company is betting big on curation over the old wholesale-everything model.
The move comes just weeks after Target's partnership with Ulta Beauty officially ended. Rather than find another outside partner, Target built its own concept, staffed by dedicated Beauty Advisors, stocked with what the company describes as "high-end, emerging, and global" brands, and designed to let shoppers test products in person before buying.
Target first announced the Beauty Studio concept only a few weeks before launch day, The U.S. Sun reported. That compressed timeline suggests the retailer had been planning the shift well before the Ulta deal formally expired, a move that speaks less to spontaneity than to a deliberate strategic pivot.
The rollout covers roughly 600 of Target's approximately 2,000 U.S. stores. Target has not disclosed which specific cities or states will host the new sections, leaving shoppers in smaller markets uncertain about whether their local store made the cut.
Amanda Nusz, Target's senior vice president of merchandising, essentials, and beauty, framed the concept as a response to how customers actually shop for cosmetics and skincare.
"When guests shop for beauty, they want to pick up their standbys while also exploring what's new and trending, and Target Beauty Studio is designed with that mix in mind."
That pitch, convenience plus discovery, is the kind of thing every big-box retailer says. Whether Target can deliver on it depends on execution: how knowledgeable the Beauty Advisors actually are, how often the product selection rotates, and whether the in-store experience feels meaningfully different from browsing an aisle with fancier signage.
Target has previously drawn scrutiny for how it manages the in-store experience on other fronts. The company's use of license plate cameras in parking lots has raised consumer privacy questions, and the broader retail industry continues to wrestle with how much technology to push on shoppers.
Target's press release, distributed through PR Newswire, listed 90 brands across the Beauty Studio lineup. The company is offering what it calls "mini product assortments" and rotating "Editors' Picks" meant to highlight trending items. Shoppers can test select products in store, a feature that brick-and-mortar retailers have increasingly leaned on to compete with online sellers.
Target Circle members, the retailer's free loyalty program, will receive exclusive offers and experiences tied to the Beauty Studio. On September 26, Target plans an in-store celebration from noon to 4 p.m. local time. The first 100 shoppers at a majority of participating stores will receive an exclusive Target Circle bonus, and select locations will offer additional giveaways.
Nusz described the concept in aspirational terms.
"It's an inspiring destination to discover what's new, now and next in beauty, and a powerful example of how our merchandising authority comes to life through an elevated guest experience."
Corporate language aside, the underlying bet is straightforward: Target believes it can do beauty better alone than it did with Ulta. The decision to drop the Ulta partnership and build an in-house replacement was one of the most closely watched retail moves of the year.
For all the polish of the announcement, several questions remain unanswered. Target has not explained the specific terms or reasons behind the Ulta partnership's end. It has not said whether the 600-store rollout happened simultaneously or in phases. And it has not clarified whether the Beauty Advisors staffing the new sections are new hires or existing employees reassigned to the role.
Those details matter. If the advisors are simply floor associates with a new title and a lanyard, the "elevated guest experience" Nusz described will ring hollow fast. Shoppers who walked into the old Ulta-branded sections expecting expertise will notice the difference, for better or worse.
The broader question is whether Target can hold its own against Sephora-inside-Kohl's and standalone beauty retailers while also managing the operational pressures that have dogged big-box stores in recent years. Legislators in multiple states have moved to regulate self-checkout kiosks at chains like Target and Walmart, adding another layer of cost and complexity to the in-store experience.
Target's earlier announcement of the Beauty Studio concept drew immediate attention from retail analysts tracking the end of the Ulta shop-in-shop arrangement and what it signaled about the company's direction.
With 1,400 stores still without the new concept, the rollout is far from universal. Whether the remaining locations eventually get their own Beauty Studios, or whether Target treats this as a test run before committing further, will say more about the company's confidence than any press release can.
In a retail landscape where consumers have more choices than ever, the market will sort out whether Target's in-house gamble was shrewd self-reliance or an expensive lesson in why partnerships exist in the first place.