Living Beauty has opened its doors at 672 Dupont Street near Christie, marking the luxury beauty brand’s first brick-and-mortar retail location. Founded as a B2B distributor in 2015, the company has transformed a 2,500-square-foot space in a heritage building that once served as the original Ford factory into a comprehensive beauty retail and treatment centre.
The new location combines a curated retail area with four treatment rooms, bringing together skincare, hair care, fragrance, and makeup alongside services ranging from medical spa treatments to registered massage therapy and injections.
“I didn’t want to be in the malls,” said Mariam White, Founder and CEO of Living Beauty Inc., in an interview with 6ixRetail. “I saw from our own distribution business the power of the local salon, the local spa, the local beauty boutique. But I felt like it could be done maybe a little bit differently and supercharged.”
The concept combines luxury products with specialized services in a neighbourhood setting, addressing what White sees as a gap in the market. “While these retailers are amazing at what they do and a lot of these spas are also incredible in what they do, when they’re a giant retailer they try to do spa services but they don’t do them well and then if they’re a spa they don’t retail enough. They kind of get stuck focused on the professional side,” she explained.
The flagship store serves as the first consumer-facing outlet for Living Beauty’s portfolio of luxury brands, including French skincare line Biologique Recherche, which White describes as “a cult brand” that her company introduced to the Canadian market. The store will also feature other premium lines like EltaMD, Bathorium, and Rituel de Fille, alongside Toronto-founded brands such as 19/99 Beauty and Sidia.
White’s vision for the store was shaped by successful independent beauty retail concepts in other markets.
“I really had this idea from the beginning because I saw how in the U.S. and other markets like France and Australia, there were a lot of independents that were popping up alongside these larger chains,” White told 6ixRetail. “In the U.S., you have Blue Mercury, which obviously became this bigger going concern. Macy’s purchased them. And then in France, you had Oh My Cream, which is a chain of 28 stores, it’s now in the UK.”
She added: “It felt like, okay, why isn’t this being done in Canada? And why isn’t it being done in a way that’s not just clean beauty, but more about delivering the complete beauty experience?”
The store’s curated selection follows White’s three brand criteria: “We have three criteria. Obviously the products have to work, they have to tell a story and they have to be safe. We’re focused on finding those brands.” This philosophy has guided the company’s distribution choices, from medical-grade skincare brands like Biologique Recherche and EltaMD to niche offerings like Mimetique, which combines French pharmacy traditions with scientific innovation.
The location choice reflects White’s community-focused approach to beauty retail. Despite the area’s ongoing redevelopment, she sees Dupont Street as an ideal corridor with strong neighbourhood character and significant growth potential.
“I think Annex Dupont is a neighbourhood where it’s very mature. You have people who’ve lived in the neighbourhood for a long time as well as newcomers, but I noticed there was a lot of neighbourhood camaraderie,” White explained.
The company conducted market research before finalizing the location. “There’s something like 5,000 new homes coming in from Dufferin to Spadina,” White noted. “You don’t really find that anywhere else in the city.”
The building’s character and practical amenities also factored heavily into the decision. “This property in general has amazing parking,” White said. “That’s one thing people have said to me constantly, ‘Wow, I can park.'”
Rather than simply opening doors and expecting customers, Living Beauty has implemented a targeted community engagement plan. The company has connected with neighbouring businesses like Tiny General, The Pound, and dance studios Studio North and City Dance Corps.
“We created a broadsheet that comes out twice a year and we have a special insert that profiles Dupont,” White explained. “We went to every business in this building and we handed out cookies, and we’re having a building day where we’re doing free coffee.”
The approach stems from White’s conviction that neighbourhood-based retail requires active community building. “I know that people have a deep interest in making sure that things in their neighbourhood are successful because they do love their neighbourhood,” she said.
Living Beauty previously tested the direct-to-consumer market with a holiday pop-up at Gaspard on Queen Street West in late 2024, which White says validated the flagship concept.
“It excited me because it was packed. It was very busy when we did our pop-up,” she recalled. “It really showed me that people wanted to come out and learn about new products and they wanted to try things. Even with the economy kind of being this up and down and nobody knows what’s going on, it was a very positive response.”
While focused on establishing the Dupont Street location, White confirmed plans for additional neighbourhood-based stores throughout Canada.
“We do want to expand and open more locations. I think that Canadians are looking for this,” White said. “I’m really hyper-focused on that neighbourhood connection, building community, and small footprint so that we don’t have this insane overhead where we can’t tinker around and make those changes.”
White emphasized that Living Beauty has not taken outside investors, allowing the company to “play and tinker with and make sure that we’re doing things right” before scaling the concept to other markets.
For now, success will be measured by foot traffic and community integration. “For me, seeing the people who go to Pilates here in this building coming down to have their services after is some form of success, because I feel like you’ve created this customer journey,” White said.
Beyond retail, the flagship location will offer Biologique Recherche treatments starting this spring, along with medical aesthetic services – bringing together the full spectrum of beauty services that previously required visits to multiple specialized locations.
Dustin Fuhs is the Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication. He has over 20 years of experience in the retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality industries, including with The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, Starbucks and Blockbuster.
Dustin was named as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024 and 2025.