What Makes Rituals Stores So Special?

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello. Today I'm joined by one of the
most influential figures shapingthe future of experiential
retail, Richard Lems, Executive Director of Formats and Design
at Ritual Cosmetics. If you've ever walked into a
Ritual store and felt that time slowed down, the lighting, the
scent, the texture, the sound, you've experienced Richard's
work. He's the architect of how the

(00:21):
brand translates philosophy intophysical spaces.
Under his direction, Rituals hasbecome a global design
benchmark, expanding to 1150 stores in over 36 countries
while staying true to its mission of turning everyday
routines into meaningful moments.
In this conversation, I hope thewe'll explore how design

(00:42):
thinking drives global consistency and local intimacy
and how Rituals brings calm intocommerce and what it really
takes to scale serenity worldwide.
And without any further ado, let's bring Richard to the
stage. Richard, hello and welcome.
Thank you Alex, nice to be here and I start to blush with such

(01:04):
an introduction. Hey, listen, you got to, you got
to learn to take it because you've been doing a phenomenal
job and it's not stopped. You're still, I think off camera
you were saying you're still growing 5 to 10 stores a week
globally. So job's not done yet.
Job is still being progressed. Absolutely.

(01:24):
I mean, our mission is to becomea world brand and we are that in
Europe, but outside Europe not at all.
Yeah, yeah. Not yet.
Not yet. Well, what I'd like to do, I
want to be super sensitive to your time.
So we'll, the interview will be about 15 to 20 minutes.
We'll do 5 questions and then we'll take it from there.
So I just want to start with design philosophy and purpose.

(01:48):
Ritual stores are often described as temples of calm.
And when you begin designing a new concept, or when you look
about going into a new region orlocation, what's the first
question you ask yourself? Well, it's actually what you
say. It's a concept of comp.
We call it always our slow shopping paradise and what we

(02:13):
always said like if you enter our store from a busy mall or a
busy shopping St and you must feel the tranquilly directly.
So in all the concepts that we have, actually it's it's one
concept because we are very consistent all over the world
with the same flooring. We don't have different formats,

(02:34):
it's all the same. But the moment you step into our
store, you feel like you've got your, your pace goes down.
And that's exactly what we want.And on purpose also design wise,
we use a lot of colours and warmcolour, warm colours for the
light, for example, that you also have at home.

(02:56):
So what you see in fashion, for example, and I understand that,
you know, they, they use the bright colours.
So you see the real colour of the clothing.
For, for us in our stores, I want to have the light volume
and the light softness that you also have at home.
So you literally feel at home and feel at ease where the
moment you step into our store. So that's, that's the most

(03:19):
important. And we have our concept.
I mean, I started 18 years ago and we changed the concept and
actually the base is still the same.
So we don't have any revolutions.
We only have evolutions, we callit.
So every every second year we roll back to every store that we

(03:40):
have all the new things that we found in the last two years.
So if we have a new presentationfor fragrance sticks or for
candles or for the shower farm or the body category, we roll it
back in two months to all the stores.
So all the stores are on exactlythe same level, which has a lot
of benefits, but also very important because I think the

(04:03):
store that you built 15 years ago is still as important and
those customer are still so as important as the new store for
example that we are going to open in one month in Oxford St.
Oh wow. OK, whereabouts which?
Which end of Oxford St. What's the right one?
Called Rd. Right across John Lewis.

(04:24):
OK, fantastic. OK.
With Mind Oasis. Say again.
With Mind Oasis. Oh right, OK what's the square
footage or square metres? This, the ground floor sales
area is around 200 and then we have a basement where we also
have a minor Oasis from from around 150 square metres.

(04:45):
Oh. Fantastic.
Well, I'll, I'll post a review on that and that's before
Christmas. Before Christmas, yeah, if I'm
not wrong, the 20 or 21 of November.
Fantastic. I'm really curious because one
of the things I've noticed just going to into different rituals
across Europe, across the world.How do you then blend in local

(05:09):
culture? You know, for example, in the UK
we've got advent calendars and you, you create a section for
local. What's your view to local
culture? How do you blend that into
design? Well, actually we don't do that
much on, on the local culture. So we always say if we enter a

(05:30):
new country, the first couple ofyears we do exactly what we have
done in different in other countries before.
And maybe after that we, we can see like, OK, this range works
better in this country than thananother range.
But at first we start as we start in all the countries on
the same, in the same concept. So we don't have a lot of

(05:52):
adaptations. And of course you see for
example, a good example that fans calendar, what you say it's
in the English speaking countries, it was much more
common than in in the Netherlands or in Germany,
etcetera. But The funny thing is because
we also brought it there and I think I mean fans calendars were

(06:12):
there already, but we made them big and I think a lot of other
brands fall out with us. So we took actually the, the,
the idea of what the what you see in the US and in the UK with
a France calendar. It went really well in the UK,
but we also brought it in all the other countries and it's
also a big hit there. Another example we have with the
products with for Eastern, Eastern is very big in Germany,

(06:35):
in other countries not so big and also in Poland and more
Eastern European countries. But we have a beautiful product,
a beautiful presentation, and now it's also a big hit also in
the UK, for example, or. We love our advent calendars.
Yeah. And if you love rituals, there's
no you know what? What better gift every day you

(06:56):
come down, you open one and you get a gift.
I'm, I'm, I'm just curious you, you, whether or not you
personally have invented it, butin terms of you mentioned House
of rituals and mind Oasis, there's lots of creativity in
these concepts. How do you decide when a design

(07:16):
innovation is ready to scale? So you, you've already said when
you go in, you sort of take your, your base model.
This is what we're famous for. We'll bring that in.
Like I, I noticed in some of your stores, you have sinks and
beauty stations where people can, you know, have an
experiential. How do you decide that?

(07:36):
Well, I mean, we are always in the in the store every week.
I'm somewhere in, in the world, mayor, of course in the store
and also my team because I mean,you, you speak about me, but
it's of course my whole team working on that.
It takes a village, as they say.Absolutely and House of richness

(07:57):
is literally 5 minutes away herefrom from our office and also
from my house. And so it's quite annoying for
my wife because even if you get in, I always pass by to see how
it is. So we are very critical.
Besides, I mean, we are not pessimistic, but we all want
it's very critical. So even when we open a store,

(08:22):
I'm there. We think like, OK, what can we
do better? And we not only think about it,
but we also do it because I think really big a big
difference between US and a lot of other retailers is actually
that we are not a retailer. We are building a brand and
retail is our biggest instrument, but we are not a

(08:44):
retailer in that sense. So now retail is the biggest
instrument, but if that would change, then we change with
that. I don't believe it will change
by the way, because I really strongly believe in retail like
it is now with but more experimental food.
But it's, I think it's a fundamental difference between a

(09:06):
lot of retailers and what we do as rituals and also other
brands, of course. When you're thinking, because
again, Rituals has made a commentary about sustainability
and B Corp, how do you fold thatinto materials?
Or when you're thinking about design, what role does
sustainability play for you? A.

(09:28):
Big role. So it's really in the heart of
all the designers that we have and that work on, on all the
new, on the products, on the innovation side, but on the
furniture, on the furniture side.
So we always look like, OK, whatkind of material do we use?
Is it reusable or or can we dismantle it and use for

(09:49):
something else? And, and we know that we change
a lot actually like I said, every second year we visit all
the stores and we bring all the new things.
But so we are preparing now for next year for a big, big roll
out, a refit we call it. But then I think 60% of the

(10:09):
furniture we reuse. So we take the top off and we
put something else on it. We do that because of
sustainability, of course, but also cost wise.
I mean, I think that should always go hand in hand by the
way. Otherwise it's, it's not a good
story and it's also not good foryour for your money, money

(10:30):
investment. But from the start we always
look, OK, how can we use that? For example, our, our stakeable
tables that are in almost every store, they are steel is not the
best product sustainable wise. But we use, we use them already
for 18 years and we track and trace all our furniture.

(10:52):
So even if we close a store in Spain, we take the tables back.
And there are literally examplesthat we took the tables from,
from Spain, we, we redid them again, that they were nice and
decent again, and we used them somewhere in Norway.
So also on that level. So it's not only like that we
look at what material do we use and how good or how bad is it

(11:14):
for the environment, but also like, OK, if we use something
that is is not so good, then we use it for a very long term that
in the end it's actually the best choice.
Final two questions. I know you're a busy man,
leadership and creativity. So you lead large
multidisciplinary teams across the world or the same team that

(11:36):
has to go across the world. How do you keep creativity
alive? What's that thing for you?
What? Yeah.
How are you doing that, especially when you're growing
at at such a speed? Yeah, Yeah.
That's, that's quite difficult actually.
But I think the, the, the biggest question that I always

(11:56):
ask the people that, and especially those ones that are
on the creative side is every time, if you make something, ask
yourself why. But also visit a lot of stores,
visit a lot of cities. I mean, I read I'm one of the
few guys I think that love, loveto shop.
So, but I've always looked different, of course, at, at

(12:18):
stores. And it doesn't matter where you
are, if you are in in a garage showroom for cars or in a, in a
shoe store or in a bakery. I always wonder, I always have
the why questions, why have theydone that?
And the moment you ask yourself the why question, I think 8 of
10 you have the answer yourself,but you start to think about it.

(12:39):
Supermarkets are a great examplefor that.
You know, they are very good in making you a certain route that
you make the route that they want at the moment.
You ask the question, why do they have the vegetables in the
front? Why do they have the bakery in
the backside? You can also think about, OK,
how can I use that in my in my store?

(13:01):
So we do the same. For example, I mean, the sakura
is the best running line and we are famous because of that.
So immature countries say, OK, put the Sakura line in the back
of the store because people willcome from that line.
But in new countries where no one knows us or where we don't
have that much brand awareness, we say, OK, we now we have to

(13:24):
put it in the front because people recognise it.
So and actually that, that, thatidea or that that philosophy
came literally because we just, I was literally walking in the
supermarket like, OK, why are they doing it?
I know the answer. Hey, what?
How can we use that also in, in our store concept?
So we're constantly learning. We also started now two years

(13:48):
ago in, in China, the first stores.
And what we like here in Europe is, is the stores that are quite
deep. So you enter and you start to
feel really distached from the from the shopping street or from
the mall of what we see in Asia or in especially in China, the
people are quite shy to enter a store and don't walk in the end.

(14:09):
So now we prefer, if it's possible, more wider stores that
are not so deep that of smaller stores that are deep so.
Yeah, OK. Yeah.
I mean, I was in Shanghai last year and you've explained why in
in the two. I went to a few because beauty
is such an exploding cap. And this is my last question.

(14:31):
Beauty is such an exploding category globally.
I was curious that, you know, how is Asia, the Shanghai beauty
experience and, and you're the 2summer gardener.
I can't remember it. They have a flagship.
So you go in and there's a little room at break.
Basically, you don't go straightinto the store.
You have something before you like you come into it.

(14:51):
But anyway, putting that to side, when you look at the
future of, you know, retail and and beauty, if you look, if
we're potentially for getting rituals for one second, but if
you're looking five years out, what, what some of the things
that you see or themes, obviously I don't want to give.
I don't want you to give away your, you know, top secrets on

(15:12):
what you're working for. But just you know from from a
creativity or store perspective,what do you see changing over
time over the next five years? Yeah.
Well, I think in general, I think that the customer gets
more and more aware of everything.
You know, they, they, they foundout what are the ingredients,

(15:32):
what are the products that you use, what are the benefits, what
are. So it's I think in, in general
and it's not only in in cosmetics, but in general and
retail. We have to explain more, but we
only have two seconds to explainit.
So when when you enter a store, you have to directly understand

(15:54):
what, what does this brand stands for?
Is it is the fast retailer or isit a very sustainable retailer?
And if you're sustainable, why and how?
So really explain where you stand for.
And I think that's the most mostimportant at this or at this
moment, but also in the future. Yeah, OK, fantastic.

(16:16):
I I've got one minute. I'm going to maximise my time
with you. What's the one question?
Because I'm not a, I'm not a store design expert.
I'm not a by any means a stretchdementation.
What's the one question people always ask you that I may have
not have asked you? What's the question you keep
getting asked? They, I think most question that
is asked to me is how does it come that rituals is so

(16:38):
successful? And there is there is no one
answer for that. I think if you want to keep one
answer, this is the dedication of all the people inside our
office. So it's the culture.
Absolutely. I mean, we have a lot of people
that are here already for for years.

(17:00):
We call them if you're longer than 10 years, we call them
dynos and we have a lot of them.So, and a lot of them they, they
started as on the lower positions and they are on the
top position at this moment likemyself.
So yeah, the culture is very, very important.
So practise what you preach. And we really do that within

(17:23):
rituals on, on different levels,literally.
So I think that's really important.
Yeah, thank. Thank you so much.
I appreciate you're a busy man. You've carved out some time
unless I'm super grateful and hopefully I get to see you.
I don't know Euro, Sharp or NRF.I know you were saying at one of
the conferences in in person. Absolutely, and you're welcome

(17:47):
during opening in Oxford St. Yeah, I'm, I'm definitely going
to get down to or we'll get a camera.
We'll definitely get down to it.I will let you know where that
is. Perfect.
Thank you so much.

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