CVS & Glamsquad Team Up To Bring You Blowouts & Prescriptions All In One Place

A new strategy by the drugstore chain CVS will include a concept they are naming BeautyIRL (IRL means “in real life”). The new focal point of the drugstore’s concept will be to incorporate express beauty services into regular consumer shopping. The BeautyIRL life is meant to serve as a “store-within-a-store” beauty format, says Drug Store News.

The CVS BeautyIRL section will include services for express blowouts, dry styling, and braids. Also included will be additional services such as a 30-minute makeup refresher, skin services including eye, lip, and face masks, and even manicures, reports Well and Good. These services will cost between $30 and $45. The services can be scheduled in advance, but walk-ins are also excepted.

CVS has already debuted four BeautyIRL locations in Florida, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Expansion for more BeautyIRL is scheduled for 2019, reports Well and Good.

The new section will use twice the space as a typical CVS Pharmacy beauty section, according to Drug Store News. It will also feature a #TrendingNow wall to showcase new, trendy and “socially driven indie brands.” Also to be showcased will be a “Mini Must-Have” boutique so shoppers can create mini grab bags of featured products. A Test-and-Play Hygiene Bar and Brand Boutiques featuring CVS Beauty Consultants will work to feature particular brands and give consumers more information about the products.

According to Well and Good, the new section is “aimed at encouraging the discovery of current trends and new brands.”

The new strategy likely comes following Amazon’s entrance to pharmaceuticals. CVS, as well as competing pharmacy supergiant Walgreens, are responding by stressing face-to-face connection with their patients at the pharmacy, reports Forbes.

Forbes explains that while CVS is reinforcing their relationships with medical care providers, adding services after the acquisition of Aetna, a “health insurance giant” and expanding their BeautyIRL life concept, Walgreens is also pushing back with in-person conveniences and partnerships. Walgreens this summer launched a digital marketplace to link their customers to care providers.

“With a physical presence in almost every community across the country, we have the unique ability to meet patients where they are and provide the care and services they need either face to face or with the unique set of virtual and physical delivery service capabilities that extends our physical presence in real time to meet their needs,” said CVS Health CEO Larry Merlo as reported by Forbes. “You see, it’s not simply about selling products. It’s about delivering quality care and driving superior outcomes, both of which require expertise that our clients and members have come to trust.”