Cult beauty favourite Morphe has suddenly shuttered the doors to all of its stores across the UK, including here in Manchester.
The brand has had a large presence in the Manchester Arndale shopping centre since late 2019, opening to huge crowds at the time.
But this week, the doors to its make-up store in the city centre (as well as its six other locations across the UK) have closed.
The viral brand will continue to trade online and as a concession in other stores.
Many have taken to social media to criticise the way the physical store closures have been handled, with dozens of staff members saying that they were made immediately redundant with ‘no notice’.
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Some stores have also already been cleared of stock, with reports that some of the viral Morphe products are already being sold off at beauty outlets.
The LA-born brand was created in 2008 ‘among the artists and influencers’ and was originally famed for its brushes before branching out into other make-up products, like its cult favourite colourful eyeshadow palettes.
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At the height of its popularity, Morphe was behind sell-out collections with the likes of Jeffree Star, James Charles and Jaclyn Hill.
Morphe in Manchester Arndale has closed, along with its six other beauty stores in the UK. Credit: The Manc GroupMorphe opened in Manchester Arndale in 2019. Credit: Publicity picture
In a statement, the company said: “Forma Brands has made significant progress over the last year positioning our business for growth by focusing on our flagship Morphe brand largely through our wholesale and e-commerce operations.
“During that time, our owned Morphe stores in Europe, which have consistently provided an extraordinary experience for our customers, faced disproportionately high store rent obligations.
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“We have therefore made the difficult decision to close our seven UK and one Amsterdam retail locations. This move aligns with our strategy to prioritize and expand our successful wholesale and e-commerce operations, similar to our model in the U.S. We also facilitated an ownership transition of our UK wholesale and e-commerce businesses, which will operate as FORMA BRANDS UK LTD., effective immediately.
“We are immensely grateful to our incredible store teams for their dedication and passion over the years and are working to support them through this transition.
“Due to store closures, impacted store team members were made redundant immediately. In recognition of their dedication, the parent company Forma Brands LLC has provided goodwill payments to all affected employees, equivalent to an enhanced redundancy package.”
Sephora’s arrival in Manchester last year triggered huge queues of shoppers eager to browse the retailer’s collection of exclusive, viral and classic beauty products.
This will be the 10th UK store for the brand, with more to come in Sheffield and Liverpool in 2025.
Inside Sephora, shoppers are able to browse in-person for brands that are often hard to come by in the UK, including exclusive-to-Sephora brands like Makeup by Mario, Haus Labs by Lady Gaga, and Topicals, plus Glossier and Selena Gomez’s Rare beauty.
The store is also famed for its huge selection of ‘minis’, allowing beauty enthusiasts to try out the hottest products on the market for less.
Sephora has announced a second store in the Manchester Arndale. Credit: The Manc GroupSephora has announced a second store in the Manchester Arndale. Credit: The Manc Group
There’ll be a Beauty Hub in store, offering full glam, facials, hair styling, and brows by Benefit Cosmetics.
Sarah Boyd, Managing Director, Sephora UK, said: “Manchester showed us phenomenal support when we opened our first store in the region, which blew away all our expectations.
“We are thrilled bringing a second beauty playground to our customers in this vibrant and culturally rich city, allowing us to reach even more shoppers with a city centre location at Arndale.
“We already know there is strong appetite from beauty enthusiasts in Manchester as we saw over 2000 eager customers queue on our opening day last year, and we look forward to recreating the same energy at Arndale and to continue providing an unparalleled beauty experience like no other.”
Tesco is trialling personalised Clubcard prices giving shoppers even cheaper offers
Emily Sergeant
Tesco has started trialling personalised Clubcard offers which give customers tailored prices based on their purchases.
The supermarket‘s Clubcard loyalty scheme has more than 20 million people signed-up nationwide, making it one of the most popular of its kind on the market, by far – but over the coming weeks, prices could begin to get cheaper for some than they already are as part of the new ‘Your Clubcard Prices’ scheme being trialled.
The scheme, which is being launched nationwide to a select group of people, will see shoppers sent new personalised offers every Wednesday, on top of all other existing deals.
These will be sent via the Tesco Clubcard app, and added automatically at the checkout.
Tesco is trialling personalised Clubcard prices giving shoppers even cheaper offers / Credit: The Manc Group
At this moment in time, it’s believed to be unclear how many people are a part of the trial, and also how long the trial will last for.
What we do know, however, is that customers will be able to use their personalised offers multiple times for a total of seven days in larger Tesco stores, but at present, they unfortunately can’t be used in Express locations.
“We are constantly looking for ways to make Clubcard work harder for our customers,” a Tesco spokesperson explained.
“We are currently offering Your Clubcard Prices to a trial group of our Clubcard members, giving them offers on products they regularly buy at Tesco, in addition to the thousands of Clubcard Prices available to all Clubcard members each week.”
The news that Tesco is trialling personalised Clubcard offers comes after the retailer was advised by leading consumer watchdog, Which?, last February to make prices clearer for customers.
Daisy Jackson -
2nd August 2024 
