Beauty retailer Sephora has confirmed long-standing rumours of an Auckland flagship set to open on Queen Street in 2019.

While the retailer launched a local online offering in 2015, the bricks-and-mortar location will be Sephora’s first in New Zealand, and is part of a larger push into Asia that will see Hong Kong and Korea added to the brand’s retail locations.

“We believe that New Zealand will be a key market in building Sephora as the most loved beauty community in Asia, and the world,” said president of Sephora Asia Benjamin Vuchot.

“This expansion to a new market will allow Sephora to continue to amplify global beauty trends locally, elevate what our clients expect of the in-store experience and bring fresh, digital touch points to the retail environment to create a virtual, client-centric cycle.”

Prior to its official announcement earlier this week, Sephora posted a series of job ads on Seek in April, looking for assistant store managers, category coordinators, stockroom managers and supervisors to fill out the Auckland flagship.

The positions all indicated that prospective employees would need to be available for a recruitment event between May 7 and 8, pointing to an opening in the near future.

Sephora interim general manager of Australia and New Zealand Pedro Coutinho said the store would be a beauty destination “like no other.”

“We are so excited to introduce our renowned service offering, a suite of the most sought after beauty brands from around the world and a fun place for our clients to experience and explore their own beauty journey,” Coutinho said.

“The Sephora client is the future – our customers are ahead of the trends, up to date with the latest brands and they want new products, now. We’ve listened to what our online clients want from Sephora, and this new Auckland location will help us deliver it.”