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High street chain Holland & Barrett plans to test two vegan-only stores to meet the growing demand for cruelty-free beauty and plant-based foods.
In a bid to appeal to those who avoid animal products and applaud sustainability, the health chain is also seeking to stock 500 more vegan foods this year, as well as to remove beauty products with parabens and foaming agents in from their shelves, as these are harmful to the environment.
In order to make supplements available to a wider audience, H&B are phasing out gelatin in all of their vitamin pills, too.
Chief executive Peter Aldis told The Guardian: ‘We don’t want to feel like a place for alternative hippies. We want vegan to become more mainstream and there are lots of very good reasons why it will.’
The retailer has already put Zoya vegan nail polish bars in around 50 of its stores, and has Beauty Kitchens that allow customers to mix their own cruelty-free body scrubs. Despite this, Aldis mentioned that the H&B ethical beauty section has lots of room for growth. The aim is to eventually stock as many as 1000 cosmetics lines, in vegan stores and general stores alike.
Mintel Global Beauty and Personal Care Analyst Andrew McDougall said: ‘The market for vegan products is booming, in line with growing consumer concerns about the ethical and environmental impact of animal-related products and a desire to buy products that align with the issues people care about.’
Holland & Barrett is certainly moving with the times, and we’re excited for the opening of the new vegan stores and the increase in cruelty-free products available.
