Violet Grey Targets Dallas by February and Aspen Pre-Christmas

Violet Grey plans to open a Dallas store by February and an Aspen location before Christmas, moving the premium beauty retailer beyond its bicoastal footprint for the first time under its new ownership.

The two stores will join an existing fleet of four: Melrose Place and Palisades Village in Los Angeles, and Madison Avenue and East Hampton in New York. The 2025 opening on the Upper East Side turned the retailer from an LA mainstay into a bicoastal destination. Now chief executive officer Sherif Guirgis, who joined founder Cassandra Grey to reacquire the business from Farfetch in 2024, is mapping expansion into what he calls underserved premium markets.

"We see a pretty big gap in white space in the premium end of the market for the products we're selling," Guirgis said. "I expect in the markets maybe outside of L.A. and New York, there is a customer that is really discerning, and there's a customer that probably is not being served in that sort of high-touch, high-service way."

Why Dallas and why now?

Dallas offers a concrete case of that gap. In September, Neiman Marcus shuttered its downtown Dallas flagship after a century in business. The chain's parent company, Saks Global, has spent years mired in bankruptcy proceedings. Competitors Nordstrom and Macy's have meanwhile revamped their New York stores with renewed emphasis on beauty.

Guirgis argues a small footprint gives Violet Grey an edge in a personalized category. Its Melrose Place and Madison Avenue stores measure roughly 1,000 square feet each.

"Where can I get away from that overwhelming amount of noise where maybe only 5% of the SKUs in a store are actually applicable to me, and go into an environment where it's like every single thing here has been meticulously picked and curated," he said.

Rather than the historic downtown, Violet Grey will open on Knox Street, a corridor developed by Summers Group and Gillon Property Group. Luxury tenants including Toteme, Dôen and Alo Yoga are arriving there, anchored by an Auberge Collection hotel slated to rent its $1,000-a-night rooms from late January.

"We're definitely a draw. But especially when it's a new market, it certainly helps that Sant Ambroeus is there, or Toteme or Khaite or any of these kinds of brands where we share a customer base," Guirgis said. "It kind of gives the customer reason to get out of their house and spend time walking around and discover us."

What is the Aspen logic?

Aspen's luxury retail territory is established, with Prada and Chanel already dotted through the small downtown. Guirgis is betting the seasonal getaway is becoming a year-round shopping destination.

"People think of [Aspen] as a seasonal winter market, but by all accounts, the summer is actually even stronger from a shopping perspective," he said. "These markets like Aspen and the Hamptons are becoming increasingly less purely seasonal."

The company tracks where it already has a customer base before committing to a city, and Guirgis rules out aggressive fleet growth. "We're not trying to max out our theoretical store count," he said. "I think we could 100x the size of this business, but actually lose value."

Executive moves

• Lady Gaga becomes CEO of Haus Labs, the makeup brand she launched in 2019 as Haus Laboratories and rebranded in 2022. She succeeds co-founder and CEO Ben Jones, whose LinkedIn states he left in October.
• Bath & Body Works names Catherine Dougherty group vice president of culture, social and partnerships, and Mary Gerzema group vice president of paid media. Dougherty previously held roles at The Estée Lauder Companies; Gerzema spent nearly a decade at Shiseido.
• Tricia Butler, president of North America for Givenchy and Kenzo Parfums at LVMH Fragrance Brands, is elected board chair of The Fragrance Foundation, succeeding dsm-firmenich global fine fragrance president Jerry Vittoria.

Deals, tech and launches

• CVC, Cinven and Puig are reportedly circling French niche fragrance brand Parfums de Marly. Advent International acquired a majority stake in Parfums de Marly and Initio Parfums Privés in 2023.
• Maybelline has launched a virtual makeup try-on tool integrated into ChatGPT, with links from the Maybelline app to physical and digital retailers directing consumers where to purchase.
• Willy Chavarria has launched a candle with Mexican niche fragrance brand Xinú, after scenting his Spring-Summer 2027 Paris Men's Fashion Week show venue with Xinú's FlorDeMusgo. Xinú received minority backing from Estée Lauder in 2025.

The numbers behind the deal flow

Kearney's 2026 M&A in Beauty and Personal Care report counted a record 384 transactions in 2025, up 8% from 2024, while the average reported deal value fell from $26 million to $22 million. Volume is rising; deal sizes are shrinking. For buyers and sellers alike, that spread points toward bolt-ons and niche acquisitions dominating 2026 — a pattern the reported Parfums de Marly interest would test at the top end.