Ulta

Ulta Beauty is a national specialty beauty retailer in the United States that focuses on cosmetics, skincare, haircare, fragrance, and beauty accessories sold through large-format brick-and-mortar stores and a significant e-commerce platform.[2] The chain brings together a wide range of mass and prestige brands under one roof and supplements product sales with in-store salon services, so many shoppers treat it as a single stop for both everyday essentials and higher-end beauty purchases.[2]

The company traces its roots to 1990, when it was founded in the Chicago suburbs under the name Ulta3.[2] As the concept matured, leadership refined the merchandising mix and overall positioning, ultimately rebranding to Ulta Beauty and building a broader platform around the idea of accessible beauty across price points.[2] That early pivot from a regional experiment to a defined national brand helped set the foundation for long-term expansion.

From those initial Midwest locations, Ulta has grown into a coast-to-coast presence, adding hundreds of stores over time and building a loyalty program that now involves tens of millions of active members who regularly shop the brand.[2] The company’s large, experiential boxes typically act as magnets for repeat visits, since beauty purchases are both discretionary and routine, which can translate into steady traffic patterns for surrounding tenants. As of December 2025, Ulta operates a substantial U.S. store base alongside a scaled digital business, although the exact store count is not specified in the available data.[2]

In the last five years, Ulta has leaned into an omnichannel strategy that links online and physical retail, integrating services such as buy online, pick up in store, curbside pickup, and a mobile app that encourages customers to move seamlessly between digital browsing and in-person visits.[2] At the same time, the brand has expanded its reach through shop-in-shop partnerships with major retailers and selective entries into international markets, allowing it to test new formats and trade areas beyond its traditional boxes while maintaining consistent merchandising and brand standards.[2] This combination of disciplined unit growth, new distribution channels, and a broad beauty offering has reinforced Ulta’s role as a traffic-driving tenant in power centers and open-air shopping centers, where its stores often serve as a key draw for beauty, wellness, and soft-goods oriented merchandising plans.[2]