Glossier makes its way to the Boston Seaport
Glossier has made its way to Boston! Located in the city’s Seaport district, Glossier recently opened this temporary location, making it the brand’s third pop-up location this year. Considering it’s located less than 20 minutes away from my home, I knew I had to take a look for myself! I actually found out about this because I happened to walk past it one day. It was prior to their official opening, so I had to make a second trip back. I’m sure Glossier has done a fine job of promoting this, but I had no idea that a Glossier pop-up was coming to Boston.
I don’t follow Glossier on social media, am not on their mailing list, and had not purchased any of their products prior to this, which is probably why I missed the memo. I don’t have anything against the brand. It’s just not very compatible with my personal makeup style. Glossier products are known for their minimalistic, natural, barely-there aesthetic. Bold colors, saturated pigmentation, and innovative textures are not their forté. I’m fairly playful and experimental when it comes to makeup, so I’ve never felt a “dying need” to try their products.
However, I’m always up for trying new products and exploring different brands. So after testing some Glossier products at their New York location earlier this year, I decided there were two or three items I wanted to buy. At the time, I did not make a purchase because I found the customer service at the New York location to be extremely lacking. How did the Boston Glossier location fair in comparison? Let’s find out…
Glossier Boston Pop-Up Beauty Stores
Glossier’s Boston pop-up is laid out in several “village-style” houses sorted in accordance with the brand’s main categories:
- Shop All
- Brows
- Glossier You
- Order Pick-Up
- Makeup
- Shop All
- Shop All
- Generation G
- Skincare
Although I did my best to capture visually pleasing photos of the installation and cropped out a ton of people, believe me, it was crowded. I really appreciated the fact that they split up the shops for better crowd control. You could just pop into the shop you’re interested in or visit one of the several “Shop All” huts which house the entire Glossier range. Unlike the New York location, you won’t find a long queue of people waiting to enter the one shop. If you already came with a few products in mind, you could get in and get out rather quickly. In theory…
Similar to the New York location, I found Glossier Boston to be understaffed. There were about two employees per shop. No one was handing out the map/order sheets outside any of the shops. Once you went into a shop, the poor employees inside were swamped with questions from other customers. I had to stalk one of the two employees and wait and wait and wait until she was done talking to someone else so she could give me an order sheet and then eventually, after further stalking, ring me up.
I would highly suggest Glossier designate two to three staff people for customer service and one for sales within each shop. After I had already browsed all I wanted to browse, I was struggling to find anyone who would take my money and complete my purchase! I was set on purchasing their Invisible Shield Daily Sunscreen, a Cloud Paint, and their Brow Flick. But I was open to getting their concealer, loose powder, and an additional item on the spot. But the customer services was lacking so I just wanted to bolt out of there. I ended up cutting my purchase in half.
The final annoyance came in the form of their order pickup. Staff can take your order inside any of the different pop-up houses, but there’s only one pickup point. That’s not much of a problem within itself, but it’s outside and there are no display screens. You stand around in the hot sun with a bunch of other people hoping to hear your name get called. Since it’s noisy and crowded, people take a long time to come up and pick up their order. All in all, I spent a little under an hour at Glossier Boston, but the majority of my time was spent waiting for my order under the hot sun.
Glossier Boston Haul and Final Thoughts
All grievances aside, I would recommend anyone who is interested in trying the brand to stop by the pop-up. The experience was only slightly annoying, not unbearable. Plus, Glossier is not a brand that is easily accessible to try in person. In terms of extra perks and experiences, the pop-up doesn’t offer much besides a selfie room and some Glossier Boston merch for purchase. The true value lies in testing and trying samples. And the instant gratification of not waiting for shipped items!
I’ve heard that proceeds from the Glossier Boston pop-up will be donated to BAGLY but have not been able to confirm this information. If true, it’s very commendable on Glossier’s part as BAGLY is a wonderful local LGBTQ+ youth organization.
Glossier Invisible Shield Daily Sunscreen, Glossier Cloud Paint in Beam, Glossier Brow Flick in Brown, sticker and hair clips (free with purchase).
Where is the Boston Glossier popup located? How long will it be open?
The Glossier pop-up shop is located at 85 Northern Ave, Boston, MA and is open Monday-Sunday, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM, until October 4, 2019.
Exclusive Glossier Boston merch consists of a Composition Book ($8 USD), a Boston Pennant Flag ($10 USD), a pen ($5 USD), a Boston Enamel Pin ($5 USD), and Baseball Hat ($25 USD).
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2 Comments
candice
14th Aug 2019 - 2:19 pmI would love to get my hands on their products
Candice || natalyaammour.com
Kailey
21st Aug 2019 - 5:28 amWill look forward to hearing your thoughts on the products you picked up! I love the cloud paints and boy brow. Unfortunate about the customer service!