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Violet Grey is expanding in brick-and-mortar, starting in New York, WWD has learned.
In a job listing Violet Grey posted, the company is hiring a sales associate in Manhattan for its new stand-alone store “that is scheduled to open in April 2025.”
It comes shortly after Violet Grey christened a shop-in-shop at Hirshleifers in Manhasset, N.Y., and after now-chief executive officer Sherif Guirgis and founder Cassandra Grey bought back the business from Coupang last year.
Violet Grey is hiring a handful of other roles based in Los Angeles in addition to the opening, an expansion move that raised eyebrows among some sources following the high-profile departure of chief brand officer Sarah Brown last year. Brown declined to comment for this story.
Industry sources said the purchase price of Violet Grey was around $2 million, with Guirgis owning a majority stake. Turnover last year was said to be around $10 million, sources said.
When Farfetch first acquired Violet Grey in January 2022, the company paid $49.4 million in cash, $1.3 million of reverse vesting shares and $5 million of Farfetch restricted stock units based on the company’s share price, as reported.
Industry sources expect the store to open on Madison Avenue, which saw vacancy rates drop to pre-pandemic levels last year. A spokesperson for the company confirmed that a Manhattan store was in the works and declined to comment on financials, whether or not the company had received investment since the 2024 acquisition and the trajectory of the business.
“[Guirgis is] going to try to grow it with the least amount of money possible,” said one source of Violet Grey’s business model, nodding to the investor’s history in both growth and turnaround investment.
Violet Grey currently operates a boutique in Los Angeles. As reported, despite the proliferation of Amazon and TikTok Shop, beauty remains a predominantly brick-and-mortar game. Luxury, digital-first retailers have struggled in the space, with Net-a-porter shifting its in-house beauty business to an affiliate beauty selling model.
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