Sad news for American makeup lovers: Shu Uemura is leaving the U.S.
Shu is working with its retail partners on a case-by-case basis to determine the exact timing, but the withdrawal will take place over the next several months. This decision does not affect any other market, and does not affect Shu Uemura Art of Hair, which is sold in select salons in the U.S.
U.S. consumers will still be able to buy products from www.shuuemura.com.
Shu Uemura is currently owned by L’Oreal, who acquired a majority stake in the company in 2003. The decision to close down U.S. operations was apparently driven by poor recent performance. L’Oreal also owns Lancome, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, and Kiehl’s.
Shu Uemura is said to do about 80% of its business in Asia.
NOOOO! I only just got my first Shu lipstick recently and was looking forward to future collections. Oh well, I’ll just have make this one more reason to try to save up for a vacation to Japan
That’s interesting, we just opened up a shu counter here in my city in Canada
Even in my country (Asia region), we can’t easily get access to Shu Uemura. Usually I purchase my Shu Uemura online.
That’s a shame because they make some absolutely wonderful eyeshadows and blushes — some of the softest textures around. (And the “rainbow” shadows are just gorgeous.)
Does that mean that I am going to have trouble finding the eye lash curler? Yikes!
I’m not surprised. Past collections have been lackluster, and there are too many cutting edge formulas competing with their lipsticks and base makeup now. Their eye shadows are still the best though, but really wish L’oreal hadn’t gone and reformulated great stuff. The lip glosses have changed, and I miss Mr. Uemura’s original formulas.
As long as I can still purchase online, I guess it’s not so bad. I hope they don’t decide to stop selling online as well, since I have a couple items from them that are HG for me.
A sad, sad day. Further proof that these mega corporations are destroying a lot of these unique brands. I think it’s a mistake for them to close down the counters. From my understanding US sales were still in the green and not at all operating at a loss so it seems premature for them to pull the plug on US sales. I find comfort in the products still being offered online and I hope that they continue to add new products and collections to the website and not just sell existing products.
Sadly, I fear that in time they might pull the plug on online sales as well. I hope I’m wrong but I wouldn’t put it past a company like L’Oreal.
I heard about this last night
It’s too bad, since ordering online always makes returns a bit of a hassle.
Is it safe to assume that Canada is not affected by this decision?
What a bummer! Although I admit, I am not a faithful customer and I find I’d rather spend my money on other brands. Great blog, by the way!
OMG…I never got a chance to try out their lipsticks and eyeshadows!! I should go to Nordstrom and stock up on the stuff I like as soon as possible…
so sad!!! I was really wanting to try their blushes
Boo! I always hate buying things I like online. I so much rather go to the store in person =/
way overpriced.
One of my fave brands. I’m totally sad. =(
that’s just wrong…i liked the store at south coast…ugh.
We just opened up one in Brisbane!! So exciting… =)
I stopped shopping there because they went from having over 200 shades of great eyecolors (bright, interesting, highly pigmented) to the boring ones you can find at drugstores.
I used to buy all kinds of unique shades of lip and eye color there, and now it’s all bland.
Damn you, L’Oreal!
Does this mean that their hair care line will be leaving the US too?
No, the hair care line will not be affected.
Bloomingdale’s in NYC still has a supply, but I am not sure how good their stock is…Shu will be there til July 25th. I believe their last shipment was at the end of May, so they are just selling what stock they have left.