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Ulta Beauty is planning to build on a strong sales foundation with new stores. The cosmetics retailer will open 100 stores this year and anticipates that same-store sales will grow by between 6 and 8 percent, executives said on an earnings call.
Bolingbrook, Ill.–based Ulta boosted its square footage by about 10 percent last year, rolling out 102 new stores to end with 1,074 stores in total. “We continue to evolve our store format to respond to guests’ rising expectations for an experiential environment," said CEO Mary Dillon.
Dillon says she is expecting that average store rents for this class of 2018 stores to be slightly lower than those of the class of 2017. The cost for the retailer to open a store last year was about $1.6 million, which Ulta intends to work toward reducing this year.
Ulta's same-store sales increased by 11 percent in 2017, while its e-commerce business grew by about 60 percent, representing nearly 13 percent of the company’s total sales.
Ulta closed out 2017 with some $397 million in cash.
By Brannon Boswell
Executive Editor, Commerce + Communities Today
