Beauty at the Bullring: The Birmingham shopping destination striving to become ‘best in class’

Standing outside the expansive Sephora, Hammerson’s director of leasing and commercialisation performance Paul O’Brien points out that it’s the retailer’s largest storefront in Europe at 26 metres.

The impressive space already has plenty of customers for a Thursday morning, but this isn’t unusual for the popular Sephora.

“This was the most requested brand for us in Birmingham,” O’Brien says.

“We’d already started talking to Sephora before they came to the UK, but by the time it came here it already knew where its customers were.”

He adds that Sephora’s use of data and digital reach helped it target Birmingham, and the store opened in November 2024 to large queues and even some overnight campers.

“I spoke to a couple of women who had taken annual leave to come to the opening,” O’Brien shares.

Beyond Sephora, Bullring added Rituals in August, Korean Beauty brand Pure Seoul in October and will open the largest Space NK store outside London in the summer.

Pure Seoul co-founder and creative director Gracie Tullio tells Retail Week that it “owes the choice” of opening in Bullring to local customers, because direct requests gave the team the confidence to open.

“If you put the best occupiers together you draw more people, more spend, more dwell time, with more to capture.”

“It felt like the perfect choice, and discussions with Hammerson had already been under way for over a year before the official opening,” she says.

“The response since opening has been incredible. Over 1,500 customers waited in line on opening day and to date, more than 200 individual videos have been created about our Bullring location online across Instagram and TikTok, with many customers highlighting the in-store experience and product offerings as their favourite aspects.”

While new operators generate excitement and potential new customers, O’Brien makes sure that the established brands aren’t neglected.

He points to Boots, The Body Shop, and Kiehl’s as retailers that are performing well amidst newer players, as well as Dior, Chanel and Trinny that often have brand activations in the centre.

“There is always nervousness when you have other very good occupiers in the same space, but we’ve aggregated the best in class,” O’Brien says.

“If you put the best occupiers together you draw more people, more spend, more dwell time, with more to capture.”

Pure Seoul’s Tullio echoes that, adding that having its store near other beauty retailers “draws in curious shoppers” who then become “hooked” by its experience and products.

Beauty was also Bullring’s best performing category last year, as sales grew 26% year on year to October 2024—before Sephora or Pure Seoul even opened.

Transforming the centre

Though it is striving to create a place that offers the best of beauty, the Bullring is not confined to that category.

“It’s very much aligned with the whole strategy which is best in class throughout, and we want to be attractive for as many people as possible,” O’Brien says.

He adds that the Bullring is “the home of the regional firsts” in the West Midlands because many choose the centre for their regional debut.

Sephora, Shake Shack, Pure Seoul, Bershka, Pull & Bear, and soon Uniqlo, have chosen Bullring as their West Midlands home, and O’Brien says that these stores will pull in customers from all over the area.

To elevate the centre’s offering, older units have been refitted and remodelled to become more vibrant, with more spaces occupied.

In 2022, there was a Victoria’s Secret, the current Pull & Bear and Bershka were boarded up, there were old Debenhams and Topshop units, River Island looked tired and old, and M&S wasn’t yet a staple.

“If you look at the transformation now, I would argue that this is the biggest turnaround of any retail space in the UK and we’re super proud of what we’ve done,” O’Brien beams.

“We want to find occupiers that are interesting, dynamic, secure, well-funded, and clear in their strategy and how they engage with their consumers.”

“It’s rare that when meeting occupiers now, we have to really sell the location.”

He says that the Bullring and Grand Central has become an “amenity hub” going beyond just convenience or fashion to include beauty, services, healthcare, wellness and leisure.

Post-transformation and post-Covid, many visitors choose the location for a big day out, and that appeal has been boosted through leisure with opreators such as interactive football experience Toca Social, games and hospitality specialist Lane 7, and Treetop Golf.

O’Brien wants to continue elevating and improving the offer across beauty, fashion, and leisure, and says it will look “beyond the borders of the UK and even Europe” to become truly global.

“Some agents we work with have international reach and they’re telling us about brands in the States, technology brands in Asia, and new entrants that previously wouldn’t have been a source of opportunity.

“We want to find occupiers that are interesting, dynamic, secure, well-funded, and clear in their strategy and how they engage with their consumers.”

As footfall is expected to grow to 50 million this year, it seems this destination may not only be a fixture for Birmingham, but for the Midlands as a whole.