Cult beauty brand Glossier plans popup boutique in Austin

Glossier — the beauty brand that has inspired a legion of devoted Instagram followers — is popping up in Austin.

On Wednesday, the New York-based company will open a popup boutique shop on South Congress Avenue that will operate through Dec. 8 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Glossier (pronounced gloss-ee-ay) has transformed a small cinder-block building at 2000 S. Congress Ave. that was previously used as an office for Magnolia Cafes, and prior to that was an RCA television store.

The building, which features a black RCA mural with Nipper the dog on its northern side, has been transformed into an over-the-top pink beauty shop topped with blow-up lipsticks.

Kent Cole, owner of Magnolia Cafes and the 2000 S. Congress Ave. property, said Glossier’s wrapping of the exterior is temporary, and the RCA mural will be back when the brand exits.

“It was our stipulation that the mural not be painted over,” Cole said. “They’re draping vinyl over it.”

The Magnolia Cafes offices have moved next door, and after Glossier departs, Cole will seek a permanent tenant for the space, he said.

“The best and highest use of this space on South Congress is not us being in here with darkened windows and accounting,” Cole said. “We’re eager to have something that’s bright and cheery and invites people to the neighborhood,”

Created in 2014 by beauty blogger Emily Weiss, Glossier has built a cult following among Millennials for its minimalist, “barely there” beauty products, which initially were sold exclusively online. Products from Glossier, which has 2.3 million Instagram followers, have been known to have waiting lists of thousands of customers.

Glossier operates one permanent store in New York and one in Los Angeles, and has popped up this year in Miami, Seattle and Boston. After Austin, Glossier says it will temporarily set up shop in London.

The idea behind the popups isn’t so much to sell products as it is to promote the Glossier brand in real life and through social media. The interior of the Austin popup shop is curated with seating areas and a selfie-friendly, Austin-centric design to encourage lots of photos.

“While spending time in Austin, we were inspired by the local community’s strong sense of togetherness, and the iconic visual themes, like colorful signage and larger-than-life roadside attractions,” said Madelynn Ringo, Glossier senior experiential designer.

Glossier’s Austin popup shop “features a hard-to-miss signage, three giant replicas of our Generation G lipstick on the roof, and an outdoor space for gathering and ice cream,” Ringo said. “Inside, we incorporated rough, natural textures with a soft color palette, as a nod to the desert environments of Texas."

Since its founding, Glossier has grown into a 200-person business with more than $100 million in annual revenue in 2018.

In March, Glossier made headlines by raising a $100 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital. The deal secured the Glossier’s status as a startup “unicorn” by valuing the company at $1.2 billion.