JCPenney Partners With Thirteen Lune To Launch In-Store Beauty Shops Featuring Black- And Brown-Owned Brands

JCPenney is back in the beauty game with a major upgrade. After breaking ties with Sephora, the retail giant is launching its own in-store experiences focused on the “beauty of inclusion.”

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Six hundred JCPenney Beauty brick-and-mortar locations are set to open across the country, featuring a curated selection of more than 250 indie, Black- and Brown-founded, and established beauty brands.

The new launches are part of a groundbreaking partnership with thirteen lune, an e-commerce platform co-founded by Nyakio Grieco to create space and opportunities for beauty brands of color.

Brands from thirteen lune make up approximately 20% of the new stores’ offerings. Featured brands include Urban Hydration, Naturally Drenched, Sarah Happ, Canviiy, EleVen by Venus Williams, and Grieco’s newest skincare brand, Relevant.

“This is surreal,” said Grieco, during a North Texas store grand opening. “To be a Black-founded, now national retailer, bringing along people who have the same job I do so we can all do this together is a gift.” While focused on brands of color, all of the offerings are for people of all colors and ethnicities. “We needed to debunk the myth that we only make products for ourselves,” said Grieco.

Grieco created thirteen lune in 2020 during heightened calls for equity for people of color. The online store features 90% brands of color and 10% ally brands. “In such divisive times, it’s so important that we all come together, to support one another, to help create generational wealth, to help us all take up space, and to level the playing field.”

“I am really proud of our flagship partnership with thirteen lune, said Michelle Wlazlo, JCPenney Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer, at the ribbon cutting. “No one has done this and I am proud to say we are now part of ‘no one has done this.’”

Wlazlo shared that the retailer was intentional about not just taking a pledge or checking off a box. “For 120 years, JCPenny has existed to serve diverse working families. This beauty business was actually founded on that,” explained Wlazlo. “We said that we need products that actually represent America.”

They were also intentional about spotlighting indie founders. “Everyone has gotta get their start somewhere,” Wlazlo told Sadiaa. “You can’t actually become an established beauty brand if you don’t get the opportunity to have shelf space. “Too often, people are like, ‘Well, once they’re big, we’ll put them in our stores.’ And we’re like no, let’s put them in our stores and make them big!”

JCPenney Beauty will launch approximately 75 new experiences within their stores each month, now through Spring 2023. The monthly launches will not only help increase buzz around the venture but also help smaller brands ready themselves for the national spotlight. “It’s right for the business and it’s right for the founders,” Wlazlo said.

“We have a ton of founders that have shelf space for the first time ever in a national retailer,” she added, noting that some of those brands have already become top sellers via the retailer’s 10-store pilot launch.

JCPenney has also teamed up with tech platform Landing International to bring on such indie and K-Beauty brands as CosRx, Hanskin, I dew care, and Neogen.

The new beauty experiences will be staffed by 3,000 beauty advisors across the country who are trained in beauty and well-versed in the stories and offerings of each brand, as well as feature virtual makeup try-on and color matching, and skincare assessments.

View the full lineup of JCPenney Beauty offerings as well as store opening information at jcpenney.com.