Station Mall starts major renovations for new Sephora anchor

An $864,360 permit for interior renovations to the former Sears department store at Station Mall was one of 138 building permits issued by the city in July.

The Station Mall permit is for tenant fit-up for Sephora, a global leader in the beauty and personal-care sectors, and our downtown mall's newest anchor tenant.

Based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France's most affluent residential neighbourhood, Sephora describes itself as "the world's leading global prestige beauty retail brand."

Sephora has 52,000 employees at 3,000 stores, including about 125 outlets in Canada.

Northern Ontario Sephora stores are currently located at New Sudbury Centre, North Bay's Northgate Shopping Centre, and at Intercity Shopping Centre in Thunder Bay.

Employees get a substantial discount on purchases, reported by Glassdoor.ca to be 40 per cent on house-brand Sephora Collection products and 30 per cent off all other brands.

"We continue to break with convention to drive our mission to expand the way the world sees beauty and empower the extraordinary in each of us," the company declares on its website.

As recently as this weekend, however, Sephora has been drawing critical attention about one aspect of that expansion: its phenomenal success selling anti-aging compounds and other high-priced beauty products to tweens.

The Associated Press, CTV, CNN, Fortune, the New Yorker and many other media outlets have written about how TikTok-influenced Gen Alpha 'Sephora kids' have been swarming stores to buy stuff to prevent wrinkles, with dermatologists warning about potential health risks.

Here in the Sault, Sephora is nonetheless the spearhead of a much-anticipated $60-million re-tooling of Station Mall announced in August 2023.

Previous work on the Sears location has included installation of a new roofing system and rooftop HVAC system, as well as storefront tempered glass.

The $864,360 building permit for interior renovations to the former Sears store was one of 138 permits issued by the city in July, valued at a total of $19.4 million.

That compared to 121 permits worth a total of $27.4 million during the same period last year. 

The bulk of the value of July 2024 construction – $16.4 million – was for residential projects, including a previously announced $10-million, six-storey, 47-unit apartment building at 1125 Pine St.

Another major permit, valued at $1.2 million, was for renovations to three existing shop classes at White Pines Collegiate and Vocational School, plus new exterior finishes, fencing and work on the bus loop and parking lot.