SHANGHAI — Aesop Soap Bar For its first brick-and-mortar retail store in China, Aesop picked a leafy serpentine street called Dongping Road in the previous French Concession of downtown Shanghai.

Aesop’s in-house design team spent almost a yr fine-tuning the shop. The 2-story, 3,230-square-foot space touts a homely ambiance with locally sourced materials that “pays homage to Chinese craftsmanship,” in accordance with the brand.

Sleek basins that take center stage at the shop are made with Guizhou travertine stone, which local artisans sculpted. A ceiling cushioned by a wheat-straw installation handwoven by Chinese artist Didi Wu evokes local handicraft traditions still utilized within the Shanghai region. Vintage French furniture and light-weight fixtures that furnish the shop add to its discreet appeal.

A bunch of personal sinks is separated from the fundamental merchandising area via a sand-molded glass screen. Here, guests can receive customized treatments while admiring a garden planted with Chinese medicine herbs.

A fragrance chamber called the Sensorium, first introduced within the Aesop Pitt Street store in Sydney, takes up a quiet corner of the primary floor.

Fully covered in soft green tiles, the intimate area offers the brand’s full range of gender-neutral fragrances. The scents are displayed in a cupboard called Fragrance Armoire that features Shanghainese Art Nouveau stained glass doors.

The second floor is a “resting and workshop” area reserved for Aesop employees.

Aesop is the primary global brand to open in the realm. A delegated “lifestyle” district of the Hengfu Historic District, it’s one among the town’s oldest streets that the local government began revamping in 2018.

A Lululemon store, set to open next month, the style boutique LMDS and a French bistro complete the neighborhood.

The Australian luxury beauty and wellness brand first entered the China market in 2018 via Tmall Global. The net shop has amassed over 720,000 followers through the years. In keeping with local data platform Data1688, Aesop’s sales reached 65 million renminbi, or $9 million, on the e-commerce platform in the primary ten months of the yr.

Bestsellers, including the Geranium Leaf Body Cleanser and Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm, sold over 4,000 units last month.

The removal of animal testing requirements for imported “general cosmetics” products in 2021, which still excludes hair dye and sunscreen products, made it possible for cruelty-free brands like Aesop to finally open a store in China.

A second Aesop China store is ready to open next month on the Xintiandi shopping center in Shanghai.

Aesop currently operates greater than 200 standalone stores and 80 counters worldwide.

Guilherme Castellan, Aesop parent company Natura&Co.‘s chief financial officer, said in the course of the group’s third-quarter earnings call in August that the corporate has plans to further expand Aesop’s retail presence in “urban centers” across the China market in 2023. The brand may also open a domestic Tmall store to make sure speedy delivery.

In October, Natura & Co. said it’s looking into options to speed up Aesop’s growth, including a possible initial public offering within the U.S or a spin-off of the Aesop brand.

Net sales for the Aesop brand grew 21.5 percent year-over-year to $26 billion in the primary three quarters of 2022. In keeping with Castellan, Asia is currently Aesop’s largest market, delivering double-digit growth within the third quarter.