Most Stores Chase New Customers. Kiko Milano’s Latest One Is Designed to Keep Existing Ones

After a failed U.S. expansion and a near-$1 billion global comeback, KIKO Milano is betting that loyalty, not foot traffic, drives retail growth.

EXPERT OPINION BY TEMILOLA AGBEDE

I had a shade of Kiko Milano’s best-selling Hydra lipgloss engraved with my name and my zodiac sign in under 30 seconds. Right next door, a room done up in the brand’s signature shade—Kiko Lilac—with a couch built with the same Italian craftsmanship the brand puts into its packaging, sat waiting for its first regulars. This was the scene inside Kiko’s new SoHo store, which opened this September in the middle of New York Fashion Week: its first standalone location in Manhattan.

Fashion Week retail usually moves fast and disappears just as quickly, a fragrance pop-up in the Meatpacking District, a party built around a product drop, gone within days. Kiko did the opposite. It signed a lease, built out a full........

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