Mecca will open its first ever Launceston store on Friday, bringing more than 70 beauty brands to the city’s retail heart on Charles Street.
The cosmetics giant confirmed the store at 137 and 139 Charles Street, near the Brisbane Street Mall, will welcome customers from 9am with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
A social media post asked Launceston residents to “set your alarms and inform the group chat” about the opening.
“Your first-ever MECCA opens Friday 7 August, and we’re making a moment of it,” the post said.
The store occupies the corner tenancy that was home to Jeanswest for 27 years before the retailer closed in June, along with two neighbouring shopfronts.
It is the second Mecca store in Tasmania, following the Hobart location which opened back in 2018.
The billion-dollar beauty empire is owned by Jo Horgan and her husband Peter Wetenhall.
Customers in the north of the state will be able to test and trial luxury brands including rhode, Charlotte Tilbury, Glow Recipe, Sol de Janeiro, Kérastase and Tower 28.
Over the opening weekend, the first 200 customers will receive a full-size beauty product or a floral posy from local florist Florage.
The opening comes after months of construction behind boarded-up shopfronts in the mall precinct.
The Mecca opening is part of broader change taking shape in the CBD.
The $15 million redevelopment of the historic Birchalls building on Brisbane Street Mall is also expected to break ground soon.
The site was home to Birchalls bookshop for 173 years before it closed in 2017.
The City of Launceston purchased the building for $8.8 million in 2020 and signed a deal with the Birchalls Build Co consortium in October 2025 to transfer the site for redevelopment.
Plans include 21 apartments, six food and beverage spots, two commercial spaces and a public laneway linking Brisbane Street Mall to Dechaineux Way.
Mayor Matthew Garwood said the building was “one of the most iconic locations in Launceston” and that the community had “been crying out to see it brought back to life.”
Construction is expected to take around two years.
