Target is replacing Ulta’s in-store shops with its own specialty beauty concept launching in more than 600 stores this fall.
Story Snapshot
- Target launches Target Beauty Studio on September 10, 2026, in 600+ stores and online.
- Assortment includes 1,600+ products across about 90 prestige, emerging, and international brands.
- Two-thirds of brands are new to Target, backed by beauty advisers and try-before-you-buy features.
- Move follows Target and Ulta’s mutual decision to end their five-year shop-in-shop deal in August 2026.
What Is Launching, Where, and When
Target will debut Target Beauty Studio on September 10, 2026, across more than 600 stores and on Target.com. The company’s launch plan features a curated mix of prestige, emerging, and international brands, with more than 1,600 products from about 90 labels.
Reporting on Target’s announcement says more than two-thirds of those brands are new to Target, signaling a push beyond its mass-market base. The company pairs the assortment with staffed beauty advisers, product testing, and rotating showcases designed to spur discovery and lift baskets.
Target Beauty Studio will roll out to more than 600 stores. https://t.co/0esr2JE3Cw
— FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) September 2, 2026
Target positions Beauty Studio as a permanent category play rather than a seasonal display. Dedicated advisers will guide shade matching, routine building, and cross-category picks. Store teams will rotate trend tables to keep newness high and clear space for fast movers.
Online, the experience mirrors store with a full brand roster, guided quizzes, and fulfillment that taps same-day pickup. The basic promise is simple: more choice, better help, and fewer trade-offs between price and prestige under one roof.
Why Now: The End Of Ulta At Target
Target and Ulta Beauty announced in August 2025 that they had mutually agreed not to renew their shop-in-shop partnership when the agreement ends in August 2026. That decision closed a chapter that began with the 2021 rollout and grew to more than 600 Ulta-branded spaces inside Target.
The companies said the Ulta experience would remain in stores and online through the contract end date, keeping customers whole during the handoff. Beauty Studio steps in right after, limiting any gap in service.
Market coverage framed the move as Target reclaiming the beauty aisle with tighter control over space, data, and margin. The pivot mirrors a wider retail pattern: when a host ends a co-branded shop, the next move often blends a larger private selection with elevated service and ambiance.
For Target, it means moving beyond a tenant format to a house-led model that can flex faster with trends and scale across stores without licensing or brand-approval delays.
The Assortment Strategy And Service Bet
Beauty Studio’s mix aims to serve shoppers who want department-store labels without the trips. The mix of prestige and emerging brands sits alongside mass favorites, raising trade-up odds. Rotating “capsules” highlight new lines and seasonal kits.
Advisers play the closer: they can bridge mass and prestige, recommend routines across price tiers, and speed shade match. If execution holds, Target captures more of the value from each visit while giving customers one-stop ease at familiar prices.
Shoppers frustrated by glass cases and wait lines elsewhere may welcome open, staffed fixtures with real testers. The plan also broadens options for men’s grooming, hair tools, and derm-inspired skin care.
Target’s online tools will carry over in-store via QR prompts and adviser tablets to pull ratings and routine guides. This is classic big-box math: increase discovery, reduce friction, keep returns in check, and earn loyalty on items that replenish year-round.
How This Changes The Beauty Map At Target
Ending the Ulta shop-in-shop could feel like a loss to fans of Ulta’s loyalty program. But the companies set expectations a year ahead and kept the mini-shops running to the finish, which softened the landing.
Now Target swaps a tenant’s fixed box for a format it can tune by store, season, and local tastes. That control can help in suburbs with strong prestige demand and in value-focused areas where starter sets and minis sell better than full-size.
Target is launching its own specialty beauty concept as its five-year partnership with Ulta comes to an end.
The retailer is launching Target Beauty Studio in more than 600 stores nationwide, bringing in 1,600+ products from 90 prestige, emerging, and international brands. pic.twitter.com/8YO14ex8F8
— Tricia McLaughlin News 🚨🇺🇸 (@TriciaMcLanarc) September 1, 2026
The bigger test comes after the ribbon-cutting. Beauty is a habit category built on trust and repeat visits. If advisers are well trained, testers stay stocked, and newness stays fresh, Beauty Studio can match much of the draw that Ulta created inside Target.
The early signals point to scale, service, and brand depth that fit Target’s playbook. The timing, the staffing, and the size of the launch suggest a clear intent: keep beauty traffic in-house and grow it from there.
Sources:
foxbusiness.com, corporate.target.com, reuters.com, apnews.com, retaildive.com, hpcmagmea.com, finance.yahoo.com
