Thirteen Lune is opening its first stand-alone retail store in Los Angeles. A 1,700-square-foot space is coming to Larchmont Village in early 2023.

Launched in December 2020 as a web based beauty platform — offering Black- and brown-owned brands — the business was founded by Nyakio Grieco (creator of Nyakio Beauty and Relevant: Your Skin Seen) and Patrick Herning (of size-inclusive fashion site and brand 11 Honoré). The 2 met through mutual friends in early 2019. 

“After we co-created Thirteen Lune in 2020 within the midst of a world pandemic and, you already know, a racial reckoning, I knew that we were creating something that was needed and that it was just such a chance to align my passion and my purpose by being more inclusive and telling this global story of the way it’s necessary that we allow everyone to have an equitable future inside this industry,” Grieco said. “And we began with a platform. We at all times knew we could be omnichannel. We knew retail could be back.”

Having a flagship location, “it’s really giving us a chance in a much bigger way,” Grieco continued. 

The worth of physical retail comes all the way down to connection, she went on. “Why we’re seeing so many individuals return to an in-store experience is that all of us miss the flexibility to attach head to head, experience each other, learn from each other.”

She wants the aesthetic of the shop to “represent inclusivity and variety from every standpoint, whether or not it’s folks that we’re working with, contractors who’re designing the shop. But what was also really necessary to me is that it’s not only one other beauty store. That it’s actually a spot for people to assemble in community.”

Larchmont Village has been her own community since 2008, when she moved to the neighborhood. She will be able to walk to the shop, she said. 

Similtaneously the business is rolling out the stand-alone store, it continues to open units with JCPenney, which previously had a partnership with Sephora.

“We’re hyper focused and so excited for the 600 store rollout, which can occur by April,” Grieco said.

“Thirteen Lune’s flagship is a testament to the importance of supporting the following generation of beauty entrepreneurs and builds upon our mission,” Michelle Wlazlo, JCPenney’s executive vice chairman and chief merchandising officer, said in a press release. “We’re honored to supply BIPOC beauty founders the chance to expand the reach of their brands at scale through our national footprint and are blissful to see Thirteen Lune proceed our shared commitment to changing the face of beauty.”

Raising $3 million in 2021, early investors of Thirteen Lune include Gwyneth Paltrow, Sean Combs, Naomi Watts, Gregg Renfrew of Beautycounter, Tracey Cunningham of Mèche salon, former U.S. Ambassador Nicole Avant, enterprise capitalist Patrick Finnegan and Sydney Holland of Urban and The Mystic.