Chatting with Rhona Pickard from H Beauty

0:06 Hi and welcome to your Scottish wedding.

0:09 Let’s talk weddings. I’m so excited today because we have the beautiful,

0:15 stunning and incredible um Rhona Pickard and she’s here to chat um from H Beauty which as we all know is Harrods.

0:26 It is. Yes. I actually can’t believe that Scotland has finally got Harrods. I know. No one knows about us. I know. Why not?

0:34 So, you’re in Silverburn. You’re in and what a store. What a store. Walked in the other week and I’m thinking, God,

0:43 where is this? Where is this? And just as soon as you go through the revolving doors, both H Beauty. It’s humongous

0:52 and it’s beautiful and it’s just tell us all about it. We’re very lucky.

0:58 We are so lucky to be there. Yay. So, we obviously evolved with the beauty industry. So, beauty is massive. It has

1:07 been for so long and it is bringing Harros out of London basically. So, thank goodness.

1:15 Exactly. Exactly. So somebody was using their brain when they thought of this because um I think as well Harrods is so like you

1:24 know Harrods it’s nice it’s London it’s a luxurious brand isn’t it I mean Harrods so basically it was just a case of

1:32 bringing luxury beauty to cities that don’t have Harrods which is naturally outside London so we are so lucky to be

1:41 part of that franchise and yeah and it’s just growing and growing every single year we’re opening new stores. So, we

1:48 obviously opened last year. We’ve had a brand new store opening in Chester a few few months ago. So, yeah, I have. So,

1:56 and obviously we’ve got our sister store through in Edinburgh in St. James’s quarter which a beautiful store as well. I’ve not been to that when I have to go.

2:02 I have not been either and I’m so embarrassed to say that. Exactly. I’ve I though to be fair.

2:12 But it’s just bringing that touch of luxury um into Silverburn. I think Silverburn as well is one of these

2:19 places. It’s so up and coming. The amount of stores we have opening in Silverburn soon, the stores that we’ve already got, it is. It’s one of those

2:27 destination shopping places, which I think Glasgow was screaming out for 100%. Because Glasgow back in the day,

2:34 it used to have I don’t know if you remember this, it was a huge store um right in the heart of this the center of

2:41 Glasgow and it was like a sort of once it was like a shopping mall but it was so luxurious. It was high-end and it was

2:49 I I was a we first went in but it was beautiful. But I know you’ve got places like Princess Square which is stunning. You’ve got as you mentioned

2:58 St. James’s Quarter and stuff like that like they’re beautiful but certainly Silverburn it’s massive. Exactly.

3:05 And it can put even more stores in there people like H Beauty. Absolutely.

3:10 Like my experience certainly walking through like I just sort of walked in and I was like hi and the staff are just incredible. They were just like how can we help you and what can we do for you?

3:21 And I was like this is so lovely. They just want to help. Um, and I think just

3:28 the experience that I had just walking in and just look I was in total awe. I have to say I’m so happy.

3:38 Oh my god. And there’s that and there’s that. And they’ve got the shop of Harrods. So if you’re wanting your tea or your biscuits or your champagne, it’s there and there. Absolutely. We’re so

3:46 lucky because we have a Harods collection again that not many people know. We’re not only just beauty. We have a lovely selection of Harids. We’ve

3:54 got wines, as you said, champagnes, beers, vodka, gender, full shebang. So, no, it is we’re we’re very, very lucky.

4:02 And as you said, as a customer walking in, that’s what we want to create. That that instant kind of oh my goodness, I

4:09 feel like I am I’ve taken a step into Harrods. It honestly was a beautiful experience for me. Like honestly, like

4:16 as soon as I walked in, I was just like, look at this. It just screams luxury. It screams I mean I’ve never been in

4:22 Harrods in London but it just screamed just a luxury. Exactly.

4:28 It was beautiful. Um so yeah. So when you when obviously I met you through there and you were talking me through some of the brands that you’ve got in

4:37 there and like the exclusive the Scottish fragrances.

4:41 Yeah. So that so that blew me away and within obviously H Beauty we have exclusives that you can

4:48 only ever get in Harrods. So for example, that’s luxury. Exactly. So we’ve got for the likes of fragrance,

4:55 you can only get that within Harrods, sorry, within H Beauty in Glasgow. And we have exclusive in that in the Harrods

5:02 collection. So for example, we’ve got Rude Ouds and Rude Cherry, which are so popular. Everyone that’s listening, they’ll need to come in and smell it cuz

5:09 it’s one of these fragrances down to Silver people.

5:12 It takes you to a different place. I think what we were saying the other day as well, fragrance is one of these things that is so it’s so personable.

5:21 It’s one of these things that it creates a memory and we wanted to create that within H Beauty coming in and having

5:29 that luxury experience by choosing these fragrances that we’ve got. So ones that you might not know of again we’ve got Born to Stand Out which is a Korean

5:37 fragrance brand and it’s a very up and coming it’s it’s only created a few years ago. So something like that. We

5:44 have got something for everyone. Um we have a fragrance brand called Exilio which again exclusive. We’ve got fragrances within that that are

5:52 exclusive to Harrods. H yeah it’s it’s a very very exciting time not only for fragrance for but for beauty in general.

6:016 minutes, 1 secondUm we have new launches within the store every single every week it seems just now. Um on a monthly basis as well. They have to keep us updated there on that.

6:10 They can share it with our audience because they’d love to hear about that.

6:13 We do eventing. It is such an I think for the beauty industry, we are going through like a kind of change. It It’s a

6:20 fantastic time though. It’s exciting and it’s exciting time, isn’t it?

6:24 Absolutely. And I think people can be kind of stuck in their ways when it comes to beauty. Whether that’s a fragrance that they’ve worn for years and years, whether it’s the same lipstick they’ve had and just just

6:33 renewing it every every so often. I’m person. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But what I want to create is an experience for people to come in, feel

6:42 comfortable sitting down at one of our play tables and trying something new.

6:46 Absolutely. If you don’t like it, that is no problem. But at least that person, they’ve tried it on.

6:51 Listen, they’re definitely going to find something in there because it’s floor to ceiling with the most beautiful bottles,

6:58 I think, and perfumes and men’s scents I have ever seen. I’m just like, I want that one and I want that one. Like honestly, it’s just it’s beautiful.

7:07 People definitely have to come in and see it and speak to you guys. And there’s something for everyone.

7:13 That’s what I’m so passionate about. I would hate to have some a customer come in and think, you know what, there’s nothing here for me. I can guarantee if

7:21 you spoke to one of our fantastic consultants, you would find something because the the guys that we have working in in H Beauty, they are have a

7:30 fountain of knowledge. They are so so good.

7:33 Exactly. That’s their job and it’s customer experience and it’s H Beauty. So you wouldn’t think any less because it’s, you know, it’s

7:41 associated to Harris and you want to have that elevated customer experience. I think what you said as well when you walked in the door, you want to have a sense of having

7:50 that feelgood kind of you want to be that special person. You want to feel invited into a store like this. You don’t want to be intimidated, which I

7:57 know people do feel. There’s an intimidation there within the beauty industry where you walk into a store and you you feel that kind of uncomfortable.

8:06 Oh, I don’t belong here. That’s not absolutely I don’t hate for anyone who was to walk into that store and feel like that.

8:14 But everybody’s invited. Everyone’s welcome. Come and see me.

8:17 Come and see my fantastic team because we have something for you.

8:21 Uhhuh. I mean, it’s stunning. And then when you showed me around and you showed me you’ve got that incredible room. So you’re doing events in there. So we have

8:30 an exclusive master class. Can I just say like I was just like you do events.

8:34 What we do a specific event space which is great.

8:37 So we have a lovely event space that holds up to 50 people. Um we have already done Pilates events. We’ve held

8:44 makeup master classes, brush alongs h with the brands that we have in store.

8:49 We do eventing every single week. Um, and it’s something that we’ve we’re really really driving on just now. And not only we’ve got our master classroom,

8:58 we have our treatment room which you can come in and get your facials. So we have we have a fantastic range of facials and skincare laden treatments.

9:07 We have brands that do specific treatments as well. Um, and the room is set up to them as well. So it is we are so so lucky and it’s so beautiful. Like the chairs were all laid out lovely gold chairs.

9:18 It’s got it own restaging area. It’s just it’s perfect. Like I just couldn’t believe it. I was like walking into a store thinking that I’m coming into a

9:27 store like a retail store, but it’s so much more than that.

9:32 And I think as well that’s what a customer is looking for now. They’re looking for that point of difference.

9:37 You’re not just wanting to come into a store and go around and go, “Oh, I’ll just pop that, that, and that in my basket.” You want to have that elevated experience, which is where coming in for

9:45 an event, coming in for a treatment, it’s a one-stop shop as far as I’m concerned, cuz you can really when it comes to beauty anyway, you can really you can really treat yourself.

9:54 No, absolutely. And I think just something that you you picked up on was like people are building a memory with a

10:02 fragrance or a lipstick. And so whether it’s so whether it’s they’re changing, you know, their maybe their fragrance

10:10 because they are getting married or they’ve just get engaged and they want that scent to be right through their wedding or maybe it’s a celebration or

10:19 you know somebody’s just turned 40 or 30 or 20, you know, just a special. They’ll always remember that scent like you

10:26 always remember like scents and where you were when like big events happen with you and that’s the most important thing about a fragrance. I feel it’s

10:34 about the memory you create around that fragrance because no matter what, especially for example a wedding fragrance, you will always have that and it’s not a

10:42 fragrance that somebody can choose for you, you need to have that experience by choosing it yourself and having that experience with your partner as well.

10:51 And having that kind of having your partner there and smelling that and oh, you know what, that would really I can imagine you smelling like that if that

10:59 makes sense. I really think it’s creating that really special memory and it’s years down the line you might not go to that fragrance and all of a sudden

11:07 you pick it up and boom it takes you right back to that moment and that is what is so special especially about a fragrance I feel

11:15 I know from a personal point of view my mom always wore gioanche orza and every time I smell that I just think

11:24 of my mom because I remember she would always spray that before she went out and even as a we girl I remember anytime my mom’s read, “Oh, I know my mom’s

11:31 going out.” So, it’s it’s so lovely and you can and it just takes you right back to that moment.

11:36 It really does. And especially with a wedding being, you know, such a big event in somebody’s life. Oh, absolutely.

11:42 Like you want, you know, everybody strives for perfection. Um, and even right down to the finer details like such as like the beautiful bottle with a

11:50 beautiful fragrance and that’s how you’re going to, you know, smell on that day. It’s Yeah, that’s a really special thing as well with fragrances. The

11:59 bottles are so exquisite now. They are beautiful. And having that set up on your photos with your photographers, they set up. Exactly. It is so special.

12:09 It really is. It’s just, as I said, it’s creating that lovely, lovely memory, which is what obviously your wedding’s all about. Um, and I think as well, I

12:18 think people forget your wedding, it flashes back. I know myself. Like literally, you blink and the day is over. And it’s having these snippets of

12:26 a memory like a fragrance like the lipstick or lip gloss you wore that day and you’re taking out your bag. Oh, you know what? I remember that like your

12:34 first wedding anniversary, you know, like um she could be spraying a we card or something or he could be spraying a we card for like first year wedding

12:41 anniversary, you know, like and then it’ll take them back to that was our wedding.

12:46 Exactly. And it’s so lovely and it’s and it’s just it’s so special. Um, and it’s

12:52 just again, it’s having that one-on-one experience with our consultants because again, they will find the perfect one

13:0013 minutesfor you and they will make sure you have had that luxury 100% customer experience within the store.

13:07 But fragrance is a funny thing, isn’t it? Because one of my friends wears a specific fragrance and I absolutely love and adore it, but I can’t wear it and it smells totally different on me.

13:17 But that’s the fantastic things about fragrances. It adapts to you. So when you you can go and smell somebody down the street. I know of people that have

13:24 chased after somebody. What you’re wearing is beautiful.

13:27 They go and sp. It’s completely different on them. And that’s why it is so important to still be able to go in and shop. There is so much internet

13:36 shopping these days online. Um it’s not personable, is it?

13:40 It’s not. It’s not. And that’s again where it’s so important for folk to come out and shop and support retail. I’m I’ve got such a

13:48 passion for retail and the beauty industry in that term.

13:51 Well, it’s like a day out as well, isn’t it? So, it’s like Yeah. Because not only obviously have you got like obviously H

13:59 beauty, but you do have all the other shops there as well. You can you can make a proper day of it. Go for lunch, go and get your fragrance. Like there’s something really special about that.

14:09 No, definitely.

14:09 And you don’t have to trapes everywhere because everything’s under that one roof. Absolutely.

14:15 And Silverburn’s so easy to get to as well, isn’t it?

14:18 Yeah. What I love about Silver, it’s all in one floor. There’s there’s no stairs. That sounds so silly. Yeah. Exactly. The person that designed it.

14:26 I think it was very well designed. Very well designed. So good. It was so good.

14:31 So obviously you were saying, “How long have you been there then?” Because it’s been open for a year and I’ve been there. I’ve been there for the year. So I was I was there from day one. Yes.

14:41 Yes. and I have every minute of it.

14:45 Talk us through kind of like what that looks like. Like so basically from we we actually went into the store obviously before it

14:53 opened. We had we had to set it up and I’d never done that before. Literally it was a blank canvas. You had all your gondola set up. We had the stock coming

15:02 in. We had the team setting it all up and you were literally seeing the store grow and grow every day. And when it got

15:09 to the stage that the store was about to open, you actually went and you said to yourself, “We did this.” It was a moment. It was a moment of you

15:17 were looking around. You’re like, “You know what? This team have come together.

15:20 Strangers a month ago have come together to set this beautiful store up ready for opening.” And we were and it was something to be very, very proud of. And

15:28 it’s something that I will always remember of the story.

15:30 And we’re not really we’re not as human beings, we’re not really good at sort of sort of praising our wins, are we? We kind of just we kind of just get up in

15:39 the morning, get on with it, just you know do your job and you’re like well this is my job so I just do it. But there is something really special about that you know like you have set it up.

15:48 It’s not it’s not people that have come from like London and they come up and they’ve got a team of people. It’s actually you.

15:55 We we have done all that hands on like like the late nights the dream and it was it was very exciting and from

16:03 the moment those doors opened I mean I don’t know if you saw on Instagram and things but we had the pink confetti going everywhere with the streamers. It

16:10 was so it was lovely and it was just I think it was a new a new era for Silverburn to have this opening. Absolutely.

16:18 And to bring just different customers in to have that beauty experience which we’re we’re very honored. We’re so lucky to be in the position that we are in.

16:27 When it comes to customers as well, you don’t know what a customer’s going through that day.

16:31 When you can have that experience, have that personable kind of onetoone conversation. And for the customer to

16:39 actually say at the end of the day, you know what? I’ve had a really bad day. I came in here not feeling myself. You have really cheered me up. To that, to me, that’s everything. something very

16:47 special about you can turn that around for somebody like maybe somebody has just had a bad day as you say or something awful’s happened and for you just to then lift that.

16:57 Exactly. And there’s something there’s something special about that and again we need to adapt to everyone’s emotions very quickly being on the shop floor.

17:06 Um again you could have somebody who’s just as you said just get engaged and coming in to celebrate that. And absolutely we’re going to share that with them. There’s nothing more than I

17:14 love than somebody coming in all excited to shop. But then on the other flip side of the coin, you’ve got somebody coming in not feeling themselves. You have to very very quickly adapt to that customer

17:23 and have that sympathy, empathetic way with them. So it is it’s it’s being a good human.

17:29 Absolutely. And listen, we’re all human at the end of the day and we have We’re not all good humans.

17:34 No, unfortunately not. But I would like it takes a special person though I think to really have empathy and to give a

17:43 smile to somebody walking in. Um cuz you know yourself some places you go in um you know and they might sort of do that

17:50 whole checking you up and down like should you be and that’s awful. Yeah it’s awful. So but that certainly was not the experience that I got when I

17:58 walked in like I was greeted with huge big smiley faces. How are you today? And I thought, how am I? I’m great.

18:08 I’m great. Thanks so much for asking.

18:11 And I literally just went I said, “Thank you.” I said, “And how are you?” And he was like, “Thank you so much. How can we help you?” And I said, “I was in to see you.” “Oh, no problem at all.” And then

18:20 walked me over and I was just like, “This is lovely.” Like they didn’t know that I was coming in to see you. They just thought, you know, that was just a a customer

18:29 just coming in to buy something. I wish I had bought something. But um but yeah, I’ll definitely be back over though. Um but it is it’s a beautiful experience

18:38 and again I think retail has lost that kind of um and again I

18:44 think maybe that’s another reason why some people are are taken to like um like the the internet um to to buy

18:53 everything um because sometimes that customer service just isn’t there. But let me tell you people, H Beauty’s customer

19:01 ervice, it’s honestly it’s it’s beautiful. Something we’re very proud of.

19:07 Oh, and you should be because it was a lovely experience for me. Like lovely.

19:11 Um, but the store itself lends to like I think I’d said to you that I can just see like, you know, somebody in a

19:19 bridal dress like just walking through there like, oh, it’s just the store is phenomenal.

19:25 Yeah. Well, we’re very lucky. We’re very lucky and again we have so much within the store that a lot of folk don’t know about. We have our loyalty scheme that

19:33 works with Hars as well. So we’ve got a great point system that we’ve got a loyalty card. We also with that loyalty

19:41 card we have a recycling scheme again not a lot of folk know about. So we look after the economy. So we have absolutely

19:48 when you do spend um over 20 you can get £5 on your card when you bring in five recyclables. So yeah, and a lot of folk

19:56 don’t know that. So it’s all about signing up to this loyalty scheme.

19:59 So I was going to say, so the loyalty scheme. So can that be used in Silverburn? Sorry, can that be used in your store?

20:05 In our store? Yes. In also in the Edinburgh store.

20:09 Edinburgh store as well. They had London. So in London, it’s all part of the Harage Rewards card. So you can get rewards right across. Right across.

20:17 Yeah. So you want to be getting one of those cards?

20:19 Definitely. And we will always help to sign you up when you come into store as well. And obviously when we have discounts and things you have to have your loyalty card as well. So it is so

20:27 important. Um but it has that extra kind of I don’t know that nice extra touch as well when you’ve got a loyalty card. I

20:35 know I mean I know what I’m like I have a loyals card for everything. I really do. Points you can’t stop me getting a points card these days. Absolutely.

20:42 Points make prizes. So that’s what it’s all about. And I do think that is so important as well because it allows the customer to want to come back if you’ve

20:51 got that bit of loyalty and building points. I mean I might just be silly but we’ve got a tier system. So we go from green to bronze to gold. So building up

21:0021 minutesthese points you change tiers. So the more points the more you spend the better the prizes you get and the bonus. Exactly. And that’s these days as well.

21:09 You never told me about that when I was in store. I didn’t. There you go. I know. I know.

21:14 Slap in the hand for me. I’m definitely going to get a loyalty card for sure, 100%. Um, so just finally, is there any other things that you would like to

21:22 share with wedding couples getting married? Um, so whether it’s like maybe a fragrance that’s really popular just

21:31 now or like yeah, just some any we hints and tips for them. So obviously across H Beauty we have a range of fragrances and

21:40 as I’ve said before to suit everyone um with our kind of top fragrances that we have within store top sell for bridal

21:48 certainly you’ve got paramali um where we’ve got Delina and Vallaya they are so popular and they do have a very special

21:56 wedding scent around them um with another one of my personal favorites is a brand called Mateier which might not

22:04 be familiar with and is a a perfume called vanilla powder.

22:08 Oh, now for a bride that loves that kind of soft sweetness, not overlyowering overpowering, but it’s just lovely and

22:17 it has that beautiful settle through the day and it changes the notes as it goes on. So, it goes into a deeper note as well. That’s clever.

22:25 And it’s just it adapts to everyone. And that is my personal favorite certainly for the brides. for grooms. We’ve seen a

22:33 lot of grooms actually coming in to Ma and Francis Kirkagan. So MFK which is more popular known I think a lot of people would know that for Bakarat Rouge.

22:42 Yes.

22:43 So we’ve got a lot and that is a unisex fragrance as well. So we’ve got that again looking at some of the more niche

22:50 brands. Exilio um we’ve got Blue Talisman again a very very popular fragrances. We’ve also got Creed um in

22:58 store and Louise very excited to see that. So we have got something for everyone. H the lovely thing that we do

23:05 obviously for um bridal for wedding couples coming in we do do a consultation service. So you would come in sit down and you would speak to us about what fragrances you like.

23:15 I love that.

23:16 We can bring out kind of what we think that you would like.

23:19 Absolutely. If you don’t like it, we would choose some others for you. But we can get How nice is that? That’s so personable.

23:25 That’s absolutely. So we get to know you, get to know the scents that you like with your um your husband to be as well. We

23:31 really take notes and then we have such an experienced fragrance team that will know exactly if they if a customer comes in, I love this fragrance. Well, you

23:40 know what? You’re going to love this one then as well. So they are so so good at just picking out fragrances that they know is going to suit the bride. And

23:47 we’ve got a lovely consultation area. We also have the master classroom that we can change into having it more of a personal shopping experience. So we are

23:55 so lucky in store we have a beauty concier Alex who will have that personal shopping experience with you Alex is

24:02 wonderful wonderful so nice such a good human we are so lucky to have her um who will take you through the journey of the store whether it’s coming in and

24:11 choosing a new lipstick lip gloss for your wedding right up into the fragrances but also because we’ve mentioned we’ve got Harris collection

24:19 that’s so good for favors people don’t think they could have we favors from Har collection And how nice would that be walking into, you know, your your

24:27 wedding and that’s your favor? Like, hell yeah, I’ll go to a wedding every all day long with that. Absolutely. It’s incredible.

24:34 And with the fragrances as well, obviously we do the body creams, we do hair mists as well, which is something we add on something a lot of folk don’t

24:41 think about, but when you’re fragrance layering, if you’ve got the body cream and then fragrance on top of that, that creates like a different kind of

24:48 element. Exactly. Which makes it again that bit more special. And then of course you’ve got the honeymoon scent as well.

24:54 Yeah, absolutely. And that is something again and a lot of people do think they go to the airport and choose your honeymoon. And I know a lot I’ve got

25:03 friends that have done that. But having that actually coming into store, choose your wedding fragrance. Choose your honeymoon one as well while you’re there. And you might find one that

25:10 you’re like, “Oh, I like that one, but it’s not very wedding.” There’s your honeymoon fragrance right there. Yeah.

25:15 That’s great. It’s been an absolute pleasure having you on today. Thank you so much for having me.

25:20 No, thank you. Honestly, it’s been my pleasure. Um, so we’re really looking forward to any updates that you can share with us over the over the term.

25:28 So, um, so that our listeners can hear all about it. So, that’s grand. So, thank you so much again for coming in.

25:34 Very welcome. Thank you.