Ulta Beauty, Inc., formerly known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. and before 2000 as Ulta3, is an American chain of cosmetic stores headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois.[2] Ulta Beauty carries both high-end and low-end cosmetics, fragrances, nail products, bath and body products, beauty tools and haircare products. Each location has a beauty salon available to the public.

Ulta Beauty, Inc.
FormerlyUlta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (1990–2017)
Company typePublic
Founded1990; 34 years ago (1990) (as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc.)
Founders
  • Terry Hanson
  • Dick George
Headquarters,
U.S.
Number of locations
1,385 (2024)
Key people
Dave Kimbell (CEO)
RevenueIncrease US$11.2 billion (2023)
Increase US$1.68 billion (2023)
Increase US$1.29 billion (2023)
Total assetsIncrease US$5.71 billion (2023)
Total equityIncrease US$2.28 billion (2023)
Number of employees
56,000 (2024)
Websiteulta.com
Footnotes / references
Financials as of February 3, 2024.[1]
Ulta Beauty, Forestville, Maryland

History

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Ulta was founded by Richard E. George, the former President of Osco Drug, Inc., and Terry Hanson. George left work at Osco in 1989 in order to develop a business plan for a retailer that would offer beauty products at different price levels.[3] Other Osco executives joined George and Hanson in the business and raised $11.5 million in venture capital. The company, initially called Ulta3, was launched in 1990, with five stores in Chicago suburbs. The name was changed from Ulta3 to Ulta at the end of 1999.[3][4]

George left Ulta3 in 1995, and Hanson became the company's Chief Executive Officer.[4] In December 1999, Lyn Kirby became the President and chief executive officer and Charles "Rick" Weber became Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. On October 25, 2007, the company became publicly traded on the NASDAQ.[5]

In 2008, the company opened a second distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2010, Carl "Chuck" Rubin was appointed as Chief Operating Officer, President, and as a member of the board of directors.[6]

On June 24, 2013, it was announced that Mary Dillon would be appointed as chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2013.[7] Dillon was previously the chief of U.S. Cellular and a senior executive at McDonald's and PepsiCo.[8]

In 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic there were 44,000 employees.[9] As of 2021, Ulta employs approximately 37,000 people.[10]

Locations

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The inside of an Ulta store in Dublin, California

Ulta Beauty only operates in its domestic American market. As of January 28, 2023, Ulta had some 1,355 stores across all 50 states with about 250 of those stores located inside Target stores.[11] Ulta Beauty had 168 retail locations across California, the highest number of any state.[12] Ulta Beauty has a total of 7 distribution centers in 7 different states

Operations

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Ulta Beauty offers both high-end and drugstore cosmetics, skincare, and fragrances, in addition to its own brands of beauty products and fragrances. They sell brands such as MAC Cosmetics,[13] Kylie Cosmetics,[14] and ColourPop cosmetics.[15]

Ulta Beauty sales were $713.8 million for the first quarter ending in May 2014.[16] At the end of the second quarter ending in August 2014, Ulta Beauty reported that total sales increased by 22.2 percent and comparable store sales increased 9.8 percent.[17][18]

As of 2019, Ulta had stores in 48 states.[19] A majority of Ulta Beauty stores are located in the East Coast region and in California.[20]

In August 2021, the retail chain Target started selling Ulta's products.[21]

Ulta joined the 15 Percent Pledge, which dedicates more store shelf space to Black-owned businesses.[22]

On July 8, 2022, Ulta announced its collaboration with Allure to bring a collection of its 25,000 products to Allure’s online and offline stores. The collaboration ran from July to September 2022, and included brands such as Fenty Beauty, Drybar, Olaplex, Tula, The Ordinary, Peter Thomas Roth, CosRX, NYX, Morphe, and Beekman 1802 selected by Ulta's merchandising team.[23][24]

On January 1, 2024, Ulta Beauty began construction to move out from their first ever distribution center located in Romeoville, IL 888-FFC to their new Bolingbrook, IL 871-MFC building & began operations on August 5, 2024

References

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  1. ^ "FY 2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 26, 2024.
  2. ^ "About Us". Ulta.
  3. ^ a b Kukec, Anna Marie (February 5, 2017). "How Ulta grew from the suburbs into a top national retailer". Daily Herald Business Ledger. Archived from the original on March 31, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Pederson, Jay P., ed. (2008). International Directory of Company Histories. Detroit: St James Press. pp. 472–473. ISBN 9781558626140.
  5. ^ "Form 10-K". www.sec.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  6. ^ "Chicago's $10 million CEOs". Chicago Tribune.[date missing]
  7. ^ "Mary Dillon leaves U.S. Cellular to become CEO of Ulta". Crain's Chicago Business. June 24, 2013. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  8. ^ "Ulta Beauty Names Mary Dillion Chief Executive Officer". Yahoo! Finance.
  9. ^ Lublin, Joann S. (2022-01-29). "The Mentors Who Helped Ulta Beauty's Unlikely CEO Succeed". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-05-06.
  10. ^ "Ulta Beauty: Number of Employees 2007-2021". macrotrends.net. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  11. ^ "Company Information".
  12. ^ "Ulta Beauty store count by state U.S. 2023".
  13. ^ Shapouri, Beth (March 10, 2017). "MAC Cosmetics Is Coming to Ulta, and Now Our Wallets Are in Trouble". Glamour. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  14. ^ "Kylie Cosmetics Is Coming to Ulta Just in Time for Black Friday". Allure. August 30, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  15. ^ "ColourPop Is Reportedly Coming to Ulta This Month, and Fans Are THRILLED". Allure. February 18, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  16. ^ "Ulta beats 1st-quarter estimate". Chicago Tribune.
  17. ^ "News Release: Ulta Beauty Announces Second Quarter 2014 Results". Ulta.
  18. ^ Aaron, Jack. "Batchdecoder". Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  19. ^ Maamoun, Ahmed (2021). "Bold and Beautiful: Ulta Beauty Thriving in the Retail Apocalypse". SAGE Business Cases. doi:10.4135/9781529761245. ISBN 9781529761245. S2CID 234242336.
  20. ^ "Ulta Beauty store count by state U.S. 2018".
  21. ^ "Ulta Beauty At Target – List Of Brands, Locations, And Other Questions Answered". Delgoor. Delgoor. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  22. ^ Pasquarelli, Adrianne (June 13, 2022). "Ulta Beauty CMO Shelley Hause Dies After Cancer Battle". Ad Age. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  23. ^ "Ulta Beauty collaborates with beauty magazine Allure's on and offline retail stores". July 8, 2022.
  24. ^ "Why Ulta Beauty is partnering with beauty magazine Allure's retail store". July 6, 2022.
edit
  • Official website
  • Business data for Ulta Beauty: