Kroger is getting serious about beauty.
The grocer, whose family of stores includes Ralph’s, Fred Meyer and Smith’s Food and Drug, among other supermarket chains, is introducing a revamped beauty concept set to enter 30 U.S. stores by the end of this year.
The expansion, which is already live in one Smith’s store in Henderson, Nev., gives beauty and wellness a dedicated in-store space for the first time at Kroger, where these products have previously been merchandised aisle-by-aisle and not differentiated from the rest of the store.
“As the industry has changed, as competitors — Ulta, Sephora, even mass competitors — have elevated their game — as a food store, we’ve had strong success in beauty but we have not been keeping up with the market,” said Becky Diaz, vice president of health and beauty care at Kroger. “We recognized the opportunity…to provide our customer more of the discovery, the inspiration and browsing that they expect when shopping beauty.
“Convenience is still going to be one of the number-one things that drive why customers shop at Kroger, but giving them a different experience in beauty than when they’re shopping, obviously, canned food — that was our intention.”
Inside Kroger’s updated beauty section.
Courtesy of Kroger
The new in-store beauty “zones” are roughly 2,700 square-feet and feature updated low-profile fixtures and elevated lighting. The launch doesn’t entail a slate of new brands all at once; rather, Kroger plans to steadily add new brands to its assortment through the year, with Beauty of Joseon, Skin1004, Ashley Tisdale’s Being Frenshe and Fine’ry being among the retailer’s additions so far in 2026.
Other brands in the Kroger beauty assortment include Maybelline New York, E.l.f. Cosmetics and Australian dupe line MCoBeauty in makeup; CeraVe and Neutrogena in skin care; Olly and Vital proteins in supplements; Native and Garnier in hair, and more.
“Our number-one goal is to drive conversion on the trips that are already in our stores,” said Diaz, adding that the preliminary rollout in Henderson shows that the concept is “drawing customers in, and we are getting more credibility for some of the assortment that we already have in our stores.”
Data from Placer.ai shows that during the first quarter, more than 50 percent of customers who shopped at Kroger visited at least two times a month, and roughly a quarter visited four or more times in a month.
Nationwide, Kroger operates about 2,700 locations across its family of supermarkets. In 2027, the retailer aims to roll out its beauty refresh to an additional 20 doors, though it is taking an iterative approach to the redesign and that figure isn’t set in stone.
Revlon and Milani at Kroger.
Courtesy of Kroger
“Beauty is one of the most profitable areas of the store, and a little bit of growth in beauty — not winning versus the market, but more growth than we have today — would be a big financial tailwind for our organization,” Diaz said.
Kroger is doing well overall, seeing profit growth in 2025, according to its full-year earnings report and bouncing back from the fallout of its attempted merger with Albertson’s, which was terminated in December 2024 and resulted in a lawsuit by C&S Wholesale Grocers that has since been settled by Kroger.
The retailer’s beauty push comes at a time of increased competition in the beauty retail arena. The growth of e-commerce has been a key driver of this, with Amazon growing fast and TikTok Shop becoming a top-five beauty retailer in the U.S. within less than three years of its debut, per NielsenIQ.
Meanwhile Korean beauty retailer Olive Young is opening up shop in Pasadena, Calif., for the first time as the category booms, and players like Ulta Beauty and Sephora have been tasked with continuously reinventing themselves to keep up with the times. Most recently Ulta launched on TikTok Shop and expanded its wellness assortment — while Sephora shuttered its own — and Sephora is gearing up to introduce Olive Young shops-in-shop this fall.
“We have the customer who is buying beauty,” Diaz said. “We’re not going to replace their trips completely at other stores, but while they’re in our stores, they can be a place where customers can fulfill some of their core beauty needs.”
