NEW YORK — Downtown Manhattan's clean beauty scene just got a little more crowded.
Boston-based retailer Follain has opened its first New York store, its sixth year-round location in total. Follain specializes in clean beauty brands, and the 350-square-foot space at 92 Greenwich Avenue in the West Village carries skin care and makeup, including brands such as Indie Lee, Josh Rosebrook, Ursa Major, Pai, May Lindstrom, RMS Beauty and Ilia. There are also Follain-branded items, both private label and co-branded with vendors, such as the Follain/Osea bath salts. Like other Follain stores, the West Village location will house a refill station for Follain's private label hand and body soaps.
Follain is the second clean beauty retailer to open south of 14th Street recently. In September, Los Angeles-based Detox Market opened its first New York door in a sprawling 2,100-square-foot space on the corner of Houston and Elizabeth Streets. The retailers join San Francisco-based Credo Beauty, which opened in NoLIta in 2016.
Unlike Detox Market and Credo, Follain focuses its product mix entirely on beauty products — there are no supplements or ingestibles to be found in the store. Founder Tara Foley is known for her curated assortment, selecting only what she deems the best items from certain brands.
Foley selected the West Village for her first New York outpost because she wanted a "neighborhood" vibe with "loyal, repeat traffic." While much of the company's growth comes from its e-commerce site, fostering in-store relationships has been instrumental in getting customers to keep buying their replenishment items with Follain.
The retailer has done pop-ups in New York, but this is its first permanent location here. Finding a spot downtown was key for Foley, who did a pop-up at Fivestory last year. "Half our customers were coming from downtown just to see us," she said. Looks like the clean beauty movement has yet to reach the Upper East Side.
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