Sephora opening sees hundreds queue overnight

Shoppers queued through the night to be amongst the first through the doors at a new beauty store.

By the time it opened at 09:00 BST, about 1,000 people were lined up outside the new Sephora outlet at Sheffield's Meadowhall shopping centre

The store, which sells make up, skin and hair care, is the brand's first shop in Yorkshire and ninth in the UK.

Abi Wood, from Charnock, in Sheffield, who was among those waiting in the queue, said: "We saw it online on TikTok and I really wanted to go because I love all make up, skin care, hair stuff, and we came last night."

"People see Sephora on social media and it's very big in America. I think that's why a lot of people follow the trend," she added.

"It's a lot of recommendations that people make on TikTok and social media – they say you need to try this brand, it's from Sephora."

The first 500 customers through the door were given goodie bags. Ms Wood, who is a hairdresser, said she purchased a body spray, lip balm and some make up.

Sephora launched in 1969 in Limoges, France, and now has 3,200 stores across the world. Other UK stores include Birmingham Bullring and Westfield, Stratford.

Sarah Boyd, Sephora UK managing director, told BBC Radio Sheffield it was "incredible" to see so many people queue up.

"It's incredibly humbling to see so many people here, and everyone is in an amazing mood," she said.

"We had about 1,000 by 06:00 BST and then the queue really started building after that.

"When we came to the UK, Meadowhall was one of the first malls we came to have a look around. So we knew we wanted to be here for as long as we've been looking for sites.

"It was just a question of working with the management here and getting the best location and getting it open."

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