L'Oreal spreads Kiehl's across the UK Victoria Campbell, UK general manager, said the brand was doubling its distribution base because consumers remained happy to pay for "premium" beauty products, with the market growing 6pc in Europe. Kiehl's positioned itself as "accessible luxury," she added, with its New Jersey-manufactured moisturisers starting at £15. We had very strong, double digit like-for-like growth last year. We outperformed the skin care market four times in 2011. So for us we have a momentum behind the brand," she said. The first shop opens in March in Kings Cross, followed by Nottingham and Edinburgh. Many "alternative" brands fail to thrive once they become part of a global company, but Ms Cannella said L'Oreal had worked hard to ensure the acquisition succeeded. It inherited a shop format and culture from Aaron Morse and his family that had evolved from a apothecary to include collections of motor bikes and cars to make male New Yorkers feel comfortable when shopping with their wives during the 1950s and 1960s. Ms Cannella said: "The role of L'Oreal has always been to support Kiehl's. For those that were afraid that things would change - our customers or our employees - they have seen that if anything L'Oreal has invested to keep Kiehl's the same and just helped us to grow, which was exactly what we wanted. L'Oreal has stuck by Kiehl's no advertising model, its free standing stores and its training programme for employees. It also gives away 40m sample packages and tubes from its 300 strong product range each year. We don't give products because we love to give. We do it because it works," said Ms Cannella. "Customers will joke and say "I know what you are trying to do, you're getting me hooked. Don't give me any more,"" she said, laughing. But they do come back and they tell their friends to come back and that's want every business wants: repeat customers that shop more frequently and tell their friends more frequently. She added: "These were all things that were unique to L'Oreal and new and their curiosity was to see what we could do with this and where could it go. They were very smart from the very beginning, wanting to learn the Kiehl's way and that came from the very top of L'Oreal.