Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman has hailed the company’s acquisition of UK beauty retailer Space NK in a fireside chat.
The online webcast, which was broadcast on 8 April, was part of American multinational banking institution J.P. Morgan’s Retail Round Up Conference.
Steelman, who has served as CEO of Ulta Beauty since January 2025, said she was “pleased to bring Space NK into the Ulta Beauty family”.
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She added: “This was for two reasons, [and] number one is [that] the UK is a fast and growing market.
“It made a lot of sense for us to be able to acquire versus trying to grow organically or have some kind of a partnership.
“The second is that the culture and the team are fantastic, and we were able to retain that team and bring them into the Ulta Beauty family.”
Ulta Beauty acquired UK high street beauty chain Space NK in July 2025.
The US beauty retailer struck a deal with Manzanita Capital, the owner of Space NK, with sources close to Ulta Beauty placing the cost of the acquisition at more than £300m.
Steelman was also asked during the fireside chat about the opportunity to bring Space NK stores to the US high street.
She responded: “I think that there is an opportunity here, because we are different enough, but we complement each other enough, that there potentially could be a world in the future where they both co-exist.
“But that is not what my top priority is right now, today.”
In terms of UK potential, Steelman said the company is providing “scale, buying power and operational efficiencies” to Space NK.
She continued: “We understand what it is like to grow into scale and to operate and operationalise.
“We bring that to Space NK, and what they do really well is the storytelling inside their stores.
“They are fantastic at brand curation, especially in the prestige to luxury side of the business.
“They have brands that we currently do not have within our assortment, [and] can learn a lot about those brands.”
Steelman also praised Space NK’s strengths in operating at high street locations that have smaller footprints, an aspect she said Ulta Beauty had “not quite cracked” in the US.
She added: “We are learning just as much from them as they are from us, which I think is fantastic.
“A lot of companies acquire other companies, and then they try to force their fundamentals onto the smaller company.
“I want to really protect what makes Space NK really unique, because they are very special, and I want to keep them authentically who they are.
“I am very pleased with the asset, and do think that it can continue to grow.
“There is still plenty of growth opportunity in the UK, and I would say that that's what our primary focus is right now, is continuing to grow.”
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