News

U*Tique launching fully automated luxury shop

January 28, 2009

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Automated retail start-up U*tique and beauty retailer STUDIO at Fred Segal are launching the U*tique Shop this February. U*tique Shop will be the world's first interactive, touch-sensitive, automated luxury store for "life's little emergencies and indulgences." The shop will offer an assortment of iconic "must-haves" from today's luxury and personal-care segments.

"U*tique Shop is a luxury lifestyle brand, positioned to meet the needs of the on-the-go consumer that appreciates premium, well-crafted products," said founder and CEO Mara Segal.

U*tique Shop features an original touchscreen interface, interactive LED lighting design, and a behind-the-scenes robot to deliver fragile products from secure storage to customers. U*tique collaborated with up-and-coming design talent Russell Greenberg, director of RUX, a New York City based design studio.

"The words upscale, automated and retail are not typically found in the same sentence," said Russell. "We needed to invent an image and experience for U*tique that was so seductive, elegant, and streamlined that it would instantly transform people's preconceived notions about what vending could be. At the same time, we strove to design something that was entirely intuitive, inviting, and familiar. The magic and allure of U*tique is that it combines the shockingly new and the reassuringly ordinary."

Users have the option to rapidly purchase the items they want or they can explore products and brands in more detail, even viewing short videos about product benefits or seeing product demonstrations.

Brand partners include industry icons such as Lancome, ZIRH, Bliss, C.O. Bigelow and Smashbox, and rising stars such as Hourglass Cosmetics, Vosges Chocolate, E-Boost Energy Supplements, Chantecaille, Lipstick Queen, ZELENS and Ketty Sean.