Sephora's Forever

Where Have All The Princesses Gone?

Going to the mall with my grand girls used to mean we went to the Build-A-Bear workshop where they could pick out their favorite stuffed animal pocket, watch the employees shoot stuffing filling into its cavity with a reverse vacuum apparatus (an exciting activity in itself) and then pick out an outfit including shoes and accessories. Sure the price for these “stuffies” was extraordinary, but you’re only the grandma of little girls once, right?

There was also the “Princess Era” when nothing made these budding fashionistas happier than a pink or purple net and taffeta outfit especially if it included a full gauzy and sparkly skirt topped with a rhinestone crown and long opera gloves.

Our most recent outing last night had them racing from Pepe’s Pizza where we had dinner to a new destination, “Sephora’s.” I raced after them as they dashed through the bright shopping mall passageways and up the escalator as if they were being chased by zombies. When they reached this hallowed destination, they descended on the candy-colored make up aisles like vultures, quickly locating the disposable mascara wands, makeup pads and Q-tips. Then they and dove headfirst into the non chlorinated and slightly germ-ridden cesspool of expensive make up product samples.

As they moved from product station to product station, I watched as even the seven year-old studied colors and textures of everything from eye shadows, lip glosses and mascaras to contouring products and eye liners. They KNEW what they were doing. They started to include me in their product selection encouraging me to try this sparkly eye shadow and that gluey lip gloss expounding on the virtues of these products and checking to determine if the colors suited my aged complexion. I couldn’t help thinking about how my makeup drawer at home was filled with TJ Maxx bargains, most more than a few years old. I thought about how my forays into CVS to buy ELF products would undoubtedly be an embarrassment to my discerning shoppers.

I looked around me and slowly it dawned on me. Most of the “shoppers” in this store, even at the hour of 8 pm on a Saturday evening, were actually … well… children! Girls ranging in ages from my own 71/2 year-old to barely 14.. I asked one of these shoppers if she was 11 and she grinned at me in response, glowing like a light bulb

“Oh gee, I’m 10,” she exclaimed happily, clearly pleased that she had “passed” for a year older.

I realized my initial reaction that these children sampling make up products with no thought of buying anything as annoying to store employees was wrong. These children were welcomed into this store with the simple intent of “grooming” them into future paying customers. When each is old enough to make their own makeup purchases, they will remember their enjoyable Sephora experiences and return with their babysitting or allowance money and eventually their paychecks. Even better, this particular sales philosophy encourages children to ask for some of these products as birthday and holiday gifts from their significant elders.

Clever? No, genius! This is the long game in retail shopping. Unlike the Build-A-Bear store and the gleaming princess dress section in department stores, this was a bet not on today, but on the future. These little makeup artists are learning early and feel welcome and free in these aisles of $50 mascaras, $40 eye shadows and rows and rows of $100 wrinkle creams and moisturizers. They know this is a place they can come to and feel beautiful and glamorous. This is a refuge from the stresses and expectations of school and a peek into their future. A place where no one makes demands, nor asks where their parents are.

This can be a refuge for a long, long time.