New beauty supply shop set to open | Local News

An official opening is set for Nov. 19 and the location will be open seven days a week, Gallagher said.

People are encouraged to check back in the coming weeks to confirm specific store hours based on the day of the week, Gallagher said.

Gallagher also said that between 20 to 25 people will be hired to work at the location and that the company is in the process of finalizing the hirings.

The future Rocky Mount Ulta Beauty will be at the location left vacant by what had been Pier 1 Imports.

Ulta Beauty, which was established in 1990, is a chain based in the Chicago area that sells cosmetics, fragrances, hair products and skincare products and also offers salon services.

Presently, Ulta Beauty has 1,300 retail stores across 50 states and distributes products via the company’s website, which includes a collection of tips, tutorials and social content, Gallagher said.

The Rocky Mount location will be the company’s 40th one in North Carolina, Gallagher said.

Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO David Farris told the Telegram he is glad to see a sizeable storefront that had been vacant for a while being filled up.

“It helps our employment situation,” he said. “We’ve become a destination for service, both sending the product out of Rocky Mount and being used locally where needed. So that’s a win-win.”

The future Ulta Beauty appears to be well-positioned to attract customers, with state Transportation Department data saying the average daily traffic volume is at 15,000 on Jeffreys in the immediate area of the location.

“Oh, they’ve got a great location,” Farris said. “They will have a strong traffic count right out of the gate.”

Mayor Sandy Roberson told the Telegram that he is just happy to see anybody backfill a vacant location in Rocky Mount and create jobs.

Roberson added, “Anything I can do — and anything we can do — as a community and the city can do to help support these folks, I think we should do it.

“And Lord knows I could use some beautification, so I’ll go in there and check it out myself,” Roberson said humorously.

The Telegram in 1999 reported that a shopping center was going to be built in the 1400 block of Jeffreys that would have a Pier 1 Imports, a T.J. Maxx and a PetSmart as anchor stores.

Pier 1 began as a single store in 1962 in San Mateo, Calif., in the San Francisco area, with the first customers being post-World War II baby boomers looking for beanbag chairs, love beads and incense.

The company grew into a home furnishings chain based in Fort Worth, Texas.

In February 2020, however, Pier 1 filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors.

Eventually and amid the continuing spread of the coronavirus, the company announced plans to get out of the brick-and-mortar locations business.

By July 2020, Retail Ecommerce Ventures, which is a firm based in the Miami area, had acquired the brand rights to Pier 1, with the plan being to convert the company into an online-based store.