This week, I explore how Miami has emerged as the next big center for the beauty industry due to its attractive city offerings and demographic diversity.
Between the palm trees, relatively good weather and vibrant city life, Miami is emerging as a major beauty hub.
Miami has long been attractive to jet-setters and partygoers, with the help of flashy events like Art Basel that attract beauty brands like La Prairie. But in the last three years, there has been a greater appeal to the industry thanks, in part, to the New Yorker diaspora of 2020 that saw Empire State residents decamp to the Sunshine State, plus the growing ethnic and generational diversity. In 2021, aesthetic injector provider Plump opened in Miami, its fourth location since the company’s founding in 2017 and its first non-New York spot. Barry’s fitness moved its headquarters from L.A. to Miami in 2021. Then, Glossier made its Miami pop-up permanent in 2022, and Spanish fashion and fragrance conglomerate Puig, which has U.S. headquarters in NYC, opened a Miami office for travel retail employees in 2023. Also recently, Macy’s opened a luxe beauty retail concept inside its Dadeland Mall store in Miami in Dec. 2023, and Cosmoprof North America held its inaugural Miami event in January. Notable beauty leaders who reside in the Miami area include Florida-born Dianna Cohen, founder of Crown Affair; and Michelle Cordeiro Grant, founder of beauty beverage Gorgie and Sarah Lee, co-founder of Glow Recipe, both of whom moved to the Miami area after 2020.
“Miami has been a great market for us,” said Nicolette Bosco, vp and divisional beauty manager at Macy’s. “We have a strong business in the South Florida area and a large diverse and multigenerational consumer base, plus an influx of world travelers, as well.”
In addition to the Dadeland store, two other Miami area Macy’s stores will open up elevated beauty concepts by spring. The beauty concepts revolve around revamped shop designs, virtual try-on technologies from brands like Shiseido and Lancôme, and elevated services ranging from relaxation rooms with brand-agnostic aestheticians to product personalization. Overall, Macy’s has 39 beauty concept locations nationwide.
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The emergence of the Miami beauty scene is not without reason. For example, the Plump team knew that its customer base was spending more time in Miami following the Covid-19 breakout in 2020. Between the warmer, sunnier climate, lower taxes and lax Covid-19 restrictions, more than 126,300 New Yorkers ended up in Florida between 2021 and 2022, according to The New York Post, citing Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles data. Notably, New York is not the only newer hub for the beauty industry, which has, in the past, built up a presence in L.A.
Furthermore, the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey showed that Florida gained members of every generation, from millennials to baby boomers, while New York experienced a net loss of every generation except Gen Z, the youngest adults. And that’s only one aspect of diversity. According to the census citing 2022 data, 72% of Miami residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, another 14% identify as Black, and 31% identify as two or more races. While it’s impossible to pinpoint a singular lifestyle in a city of such diversity, some calling cards of Miami are its dynamic nightlife, access to beaches, and world-class dining.
“People [in Miami] are focused on aging well, and since Botox and fillers have become a little more popular, [locals] say they want to look and feel good as they age,” said Richelle Marty, COO at Plump Cosmetics & Injectables. “It’s the more health-conscious and longevity-focused people [who come in]. … And it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is. They’ll fit it into their schedule.”
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The population diversity is particularly attractive to beauty businesses seeking entry into Latin American and Hispanic communities or markets. According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, Hispanic buying power is expected to increase by about 32% from 2021 to 2026. Comparatively, U.S. consumer buying power will rise by 23% during the same period. Although the Cosmoprof Las Vegas event has successfully been around for 20 years, the Cosmoprof team noted that Miami was a draw because it’s a vibrant beauty hub. Exhibitors included hair, spa and fragrance brands, alongside brands in multicultural sectors with an emphasis on Latin America — brands from Argentina, Brazil and Colombia took part. More than twice as many Latin American exhibitors came to the Miami event, compared to the Vegas event. There were 19,000 attendees from 113 countries, compared to 32,000 attendees from 99 countries in Las Vegas.
As the Cosmoprof North America team develops next year’s Miami program, it sees the opportunity to attract more Latin American retailers to meet U.S. brands and more U.S. retailers to meet Latin American brands. Attendees remarked to the Cosmoprof team and in social media posts that the exposure to Latin American brands and markets was a highlight, according to Liza Rapay, vp of marketing for Cosmoprof North America.
“Miami is viable for a number of reasons. No. 1, it’s the hub of the Latin American community, and at the Cosmoprof event, you could see that,” she said. “It’s becoming a geographical play. … It’s been bubbling for quite some time now, but now we know, more than ever, how important it is.”
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