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Beauty lovers and retail experts hail first Sephora store on island of Ireland
Beauty lovers and retail experts have hailed the opening of the first Sephora store on the island of Ireland as “fantastic”.
Shoppers queued around the Victoria Square shopping complex in Belfast on Thursday morning hours ahead of the store’s 1pm opening time.
It is the beauty retailer’s first opening in the UK in 2026, and its 13th UK store to date.
The store is 2,550 sq ft and has been touted as a beauty playground with make-up services on offer as well as products on sale.
It brings a number of internet viral brands which are exclusively available in Sephora to the island of Ireland for the first time.
These include Hailey Bieber’s rhode and Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs, as well as Makeup By Mario, Merit Beauty, INNBeauty Project and Tower 28.
Sephora UK said Belfast is the first of several store openings planned in 2026, with a site Bristol set to open this spring.
Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI, said it was great news for the city centre, describing a destination retailer that will attract shoppers to travel to the Northern Ireland capital.
“It’s a fantastic investment, not just in Victoria Square and the city centre, but this is the first store on the island and Scotland, so it will quickly become a destination retailer,” he said.
“All the traders in the city centre are going to benefit from the extra football that this store is going to generate, so it is a genuine good news story.
“We’ve had so many bad headlines about stores closing, it’s actually really good to be here this morning at a store opening.
“It shows there is light at the end of the tunnel for the challenges that our high streets face.
“Is there more that we need to do in the city centre, yes there is, but I think today is a big step forward.”
Clare Guinness, chief executive of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, said it had been a coup to secure the first Sephora on the island over Dublin.
“It’s terrific to have Sephora in Belfast, we’re so delighted to welcome them. It’s a global brand we can normally only visit on holiday, we can now visit in our own city,” she said.
“And what’s exciting is, it obviously appeals to people like me in middle age, but also my 13-year-old daughter is excited too, so you’ve got cross-generational appeal.
“It’s such a coup to get this over Dublin. We are the second city on the island but we’re the first to have Sephora. I think it’s going to fly in Belfast.”
Sarah Boyd, managing director of Sephora UK, said opening the store has been two and a half years in the making.
She also hinted at potential further store openings on the island if the Belfast store is as successful as they expect.
“We’re beyond excited to be here, and we have the most incredible team all hired locally,” she said.
“This is two and a half years in the making, and it is just great to open today.”
Asked what had swayed the decision to open in Belfast, Ms Boyd described looking at cities, and for vibrant beauty communities that are maybe a little under-served.
“Belfast was one of the places that really early in the process came up as somewhere that we had so much response from people saying, ‘please come to Belfast, please come to Northern Ireland and please come to Ireland’ generally,” she said.
“We knew there was that community here already, and as soon as I visited a couple of years ago, I knew that it was going to be a great home for us here.
“At the moment all of the other stores opening this year are all either in England or Scotland, but if the response here is overwhelming, then of course we’ll be looking at more locations.”
Household energy prices are falling by 7% from Wednesday in a “short-lived respite” for households already braced for a predicted 18% hike from July.
Ofgem’s price cap has dropped from £1,758 to £1,641 – a reduction of £117 or around £10 a month for the average household using both electricity and gas.
This is an 11% fall year on year, but still £600 more than bills were in the winter of 2020 to 2021.
The reduction is lower than the average £150 cut to bills pledged by the Chancellor in November, when she moved 75% of the cost of the renewables obligation from household bills onto general taxation and scrapped the energy company obligation (Eco) scheme.
And it comes amid increasing concern about the amount energy bills could rise by from July as a result of the Middle East conflict, with latest predictions from Cornwall Insight suggesting this could be 18% or £288 a year – to almost £900 above pre-crisis levels.
In the meantime, consumer groups have urged households to send in meter readings to ensure their energy usage is billed at the lowest possible rate, and investigate fixed rate deals if they remain on their firm’s standard variable rate.
A spokesman for Energy UK, which represents firms, said: “Suppliers are required to set direct debits as accurately as possible based on the best and most current information available.
“So – as well as factors like current balance, payment record and previous energy usage – this will also include the latest projection of energy costs over the coming months.
“Suppliers regularly review direct debt levels so any current assessment for price cap customers would likely take into account that bills look set to go up again in July. Customers on fixed deals however will not see any increase until their current deal comes to an end.”
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “The fall in bills from April 1 offers brief relief for households, but the respite will be short-lived.
“Given the ongoing profits made by the energy industry, households deserve more than a temporary reprieve before prices rise again.
“For the millions of households already in energy debt to their suppliers, this is a real concern and risks pushing more people into crisis.
“The Government must use the window between now and July to act. That means targeted support for those hit first and hardest, including households off the gas grid and those on heat networks, faster action on energy debt, and preparations to bring costs down if prices deteriorate further.”
National Energy Action chief executive Adam Scorer said: “Any price drop is good news, but everyone knows that it will be overtaken by events.
“It is likely to be a false dawn. And the people who know that the best are those already struggling to afford their energy bills and know the real cost of an energy crisis.
“Unfortunately, today’s good news is hugely overshadowed by the fear and dread of what may be to come.”
Which? energy editor Emily Seymour said: “April’s energy price cap fall will bring much needed relief for households. What you save will vary depending on how much you use.
“Despite this drop, many households are already concerned about the next price cap announcement in May, which will set rates from July and is currently predicted to rise by £288, or 18%, per year for the average household.
“It’s important to remember this isn’t confirmed yet, so don’t feel pressured into making quick decisions.
“If you’re currently paying variable rates, it’s worth checking the market to see what fixed deals are available. Fixing could offer protection against future increases, but only if the price is right.
“Options have reduced in the last few weeks, but some energy companies are still offering fixes with prices around those of the January-March price cap.
“If you’re worried about paying your energy bills, contact your supplier as soon as possible. Energy companies are obliged to help if you’re struggling to pay and won’t disconnect you for missing a payment. Request a review or break in payments, and access any available hardship funds.”
A Nike logo is displayed at a Nike store in Austin, Texas, Feb. 5, 2026.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Shares of Nike fell in extended trading Tuesday after the retailer warned sales will fall for the rest of the calendar year, led by an expected 20% decline in its key China market during the current quarter.
Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said during the company’s earnings call that Nike expects sales for its current fiscal fourth quarter to drop between 2% and 4%, compared with Wall Street estimates of a 1.9% increase, according to LSEG.
For the duration of the calendar year, Friend said, the company expects sales to fall by a low single-digit percentage, led by growth in North America and offset by declines in China. That outlook wasn’t comparable to estimates.
Nike beat expectations across the business on both the top and bottom lines for its fiscal third quarter, but its guidance left investors with more questions about how long its turnaround will take. Friend also cautioned that Nike’s guidance was based off of where the global economic picture stands today — and it could change given recent geopolitical volatility.
“We also recognize that the environment around us has become increasingly dynamic, and we could experience unplanned volatility due to the disruption in the Middle East, rising oil prices and other factors that could impact either input costs or consumer behavior,” said Friend. “We are focused on what we can control.”
Shares fell more than 8% in extended trading.
Here’s how the world’s largest sneaker company did for its fiscal third quarter, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 35 cents vs. 28 cents expected
- Revenue: $11.28 billion vs. $11.24 billion expected
The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Feb. 28 was $520 million, or 35 cents per share. That’s a 35% decline from $794 million, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier. That plunge came as Nike’s gross profit margin slid 1.3 percentage points to 40.2%, “primarily due to higher tariffs in North America,” the company said.
Sales were flat at $11.28 billion, compared to $11.27 billion last year.
While Nike beat expectations on the top and bottom lines, it posted a mixed picture regionally. Nike’s largest market of North America continued to show steady growth, as revenue climbed 3% to $5.03 billion, but that was just shy of Wall Street’s expectations of $5.04 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Meanwhile, Nike’s Greater China market continued to shrink, with revenue down 7% to $1.62 billion during the quarter. Still, that total beat analyst estimates of $1.50 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Nike is continuing to work through a colossal turnaround under CEO Elliott Hill. About a year and a half into his tenure, Hill has made strides in repairing parts of the business, but has been clear that it’ll take time for the entire company to improve given the retailer’s scale and complexity.
He reiterated that expectation on Tuesday, saying in a news release that “the pace of progress is different across the portfolio.”
“The areas we prioritized first continue to drive momentum,” Hill said. “The work is not finished, but the direction is clear, our teams are moving with focus and urgency, and our foundation is getting even stronger to build the future of NIKE.”
Friend said Nike’s turnaround efforts “will continue to impact results over the balance of the calendar year.”
Nike’s recovery was already coming at a tough time as a global trade war dented its efforts to improve profitability and drive sales from inflation-weary shoppers. But now the athletic company will have to contend with a new war in the Middle East that’s already led to rising gas prices and is expected to send consumer prices even higher, which could push shoppers to cut back on nice-to-haves like new clothes and shoes to save money elsewhere.
“We continue to be encouraged by the momentum in North America. We’ve got a strong order book for summer,” Friend said. “We’re seeing positive signs and sell through. We’re not seeing a consumer reaction to what’s going on in the Middle East at this point in time, in North America.”
Hill has focused in part on revitalizing Nike’s business with wholesale partners as opposed to direct sales on its website and in stores. Wholesale revenue climbed 5% to $6.5 billion.
Meanwhile, direct sales slid 4% to $4.5 billion.
It is thought that thousands of people may have lost their jobs at Oracle, one of the world’s largest tech companies.
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