Kiehl’s opens a European flagship at 43 Carnaby Street on Thursday, adding a two-floor, 1,300-square-foot store to its U.K. retail portfolio as the L’Oréal-owned skin care brand approaches its 175th anniversary.

The store features an upstairs content studio for creators and community events, a photo booth, custom screen printing and Derma Readers for in-store skin analysis. An interactive Brew Bar will pair Kiehl’s skin care ingredients with customers’ moods and skin concerns.

"As Kiehl’s celebrates 175 years, opening our European flagship on Carnaby Street is a meaningful investment in the future of physical retail," said Melanie Vidal, global brand president of Kiehl’s.

Vidal said Carnaby Street’s mix of cultures and creative voices recalled the brand’s roots in New York’s East Village.

"We wanted this store to be a destination for discovery that feels just as welcoming and inspiring," Vidal said.

"With an interactive Brew Bar that matches ingredients to customers’ moods and skin concerns, Derma-Readers for in-store skin analysis, and a community space for content creation, this flagship brings to life our apothecary heritage and approach to skin care through experiences you can only have in person," she added.

The studio will occupy the entire upper floor. Kiehl’s designed it for filming, collaboration and community events, and said it is a first for the brand in Europe. The photo booth and custom screen printing give visitors additional ways to engage with the store and its apothecary heritage.

"We wanted to create a store that people don’t just shop in, but want to spend time in," said Niki Lo, general manager for Kiehl’s U.K.

Lo said the studio connects the brand’s digital reach with the physical store, while the Brew Bar and skin analysis offer hands-on ways to explore its products.

The Carnaby Street location is Kiehl’s second stand-alone boutique in London’s West End, following its store at 55 Monmouth Street. The brand operates 18 boutiques across the U.K. and said the new store reflects its continued investment in freestanding retail as a way to build brand awareness, customer loyalty and community.

The U.K. ranks among Kiehl’s three largest markets globally, according to L’Oréal. The brand’s creamy eye treatment with avocado is the country’s number-one prestige eye cream.

The bet on physical retail comes with numbers behind it. The U.K. beauty and personal care industry contributed 28.3 billion pounds to U.K. gross domestic product in 2025 and is projected to contribute 29.4 billion pounds in 2026, according to the British Beauty Council and Oxford Economics.

William Oliver, director of retail and restaurant leasing at Shaftesbury Capital, which manages the Carnaby Street estate, said the opening strengthens the company’s partnership with Kiehl’s. He said prime retail space can serve both as a direct shopping destination and as a showroom for online customers.

For Kiehl’s, the flagship doubles down on that logic: a store designed to be filmed, shared and revisited — not merely shopped — as the brand heads into its 175th year.