Flyte.70 Opens Store To Celebrate Independent Beauty Brands And Women No Matter Their Stage Of Life

The makeup brand Flyte.70 is all about embracing age and evolution—and its new store showcasing several brands is no different.

Marking a return to brick-and-mortar store ownership for Elena Frankel and Carolyn Barber, who ran the Boston beauty boutique E6 Apothecary on Newbury Street from 1998 to 2006, Flyte.70’s location on Washington Street in the Massachusetts town Wellesley sells 14 brands, including Rōz, Machete, Bohème and Jeneora, and has more on the way. Beyond selling them, the store’s mission is to provide a place for women in their 40s, 50s and above to commiserate with people facing what they’re facing as they go through the triumphs and tribulations of life.

“As an introverted extrovert, I have a very hard time talking to people, but the reason why Flyte.70 exists is because we felt our demographic, not just was not at the forefront, but had no seat at the table. Age should never be a factor, and it always has been,” says Frankel, who, like her co-founder at Flyte.70, was born in 1970. “For our customers, it’s really given them some level of self-worth, not even just from makeup, but from the conversations we have with them.”

Frankel and Barber’s earlier store was lauded by Boston Magazine for its mix of “high-style cosmetics and low-pressure shopping”—and they’re not straying from that approach with their new store. At it, Frankel and Barber, both former employees of Saks Fifth Avenue, plan to practice a novel concept in retail today: personalized customer service that pays as much attention to long-term relationship building as it does the immediate sale.

“The store is in some ways a little selfish, it’s the way we want to shop for beauty. We don’t want to feel as if we’re walking into a supermarket. We want it to be a calmer experience,” says Frankel. “The industry has become so overwhelming with all the brands and information that I just want to shut my eyes and ears sometimes and relax.”

When Frankel and Barber were developing makeup brand Flyte.70, which launched in 2021, they didn’t necessarily think they’d leap into having their own store again. But a productive three-month pop-up in Boston’s Seaport area during the summer last year and the 1,000-square-foot location they were able to secure in Wellesley allowing them to combine a store with office and warehousing functions convinced them a brick-and-mortar outpost would be advantageous.

“We are trying to help customers shop with a purpose.”

“When we did the pop-up, the sales in person gave us a lot of sales on our e-commerce site. There was a direct correlation, and we knew that it was something we are good at,” says Frankel, adding, “There are so many channels that you can build your business in, and COVID definitely hurt brick-and-mortar, but it’s essential in certain categories like makeup and fragrance. They are so sensorial, so I feel you have to be in brick-and-mortar.”

Barber and Frankel are assembling an assortment for Flyte.70’s store spotlighting independent beauty brands that are vegan, cruelty-free and pursuing sustainability efforts. The store has a bin from Pact, the nonprofit that collects hard-to-recycle beauty packaging. Barber and Frankel tend not to stock brands’ complete selections, and three to six products from each brand is the norm. Barber explains Flyte.70 tries to give brands space to help them stand out, and she and Frankel are careful not to take brands that are too similar to avoid brands cannibalizing other brands’ sales.

“We are very proud of the brands we carry. We love their story, and they love ours,” says Frankel. “We are trying to help customers shop with a purpose.” She elaborates, “We know that there’s no clear-cut solution to sustainability, but there’s progress, and the biggest thing we talk about is sustainable consumerism and being mindful about your purchases and using up your products and not being caught up all the time when a product goes viral. You can’t talk about sustainability unless you talk about overconsumption. If you are constantly launching new products, that’s not sustainable.”

Although women in their 40s, 50s and above are a target audience for Flyte.70’s store, and it will host makeup workshops geared to them, Frankel and Barber realize it will attract shoppers from across the age spectrum, and they’re merchandising it accordingly. They’re interested in picking up baby care products and have diffusers for the students at nearby Wellesley College squeezed into dorms that might need a bit of freshening up.

“I have an 18-year-old daughter, and we are looking for another small makeup line that caters to a younger generation because we are mindful of our location,” says Frankel. “A lot of moms, aunts and grandmothers come here, and we do have a men’s line. We are not going to get into pet, but we do have a dog bowl in the store.”

She describes Flyte.70’s store design as having an “industrial art school vibe.” There’s an inspiration wall featuring Sade, David Bowie, Pat Benatar, Lauryn Hill and Debbie Harry. The music theme is also prominent in Flyte.70’s makeup products. The brand’s shade names are references to songs from the 1980s and 1990s. For instance, its ColorBack.Pressed Cheek Blush comes in the shades Linger, Urgent and Abracadabra.

“It’s about going back to those mom-and-pop shops that people really love that are a destination.”

“We did it so our customers could connect to their past and a time when they felt very vibrant and youthful,” says Frankel “They are still that way, it’s just that life gets more complicated as you get older, but we try to hold on to that.”

Flyte.70’s bestsellers are GlowBack.Global Prep, S+S.LipSheer and ColorBack.Burnished Bronze. The brand has been picked up by e-tailer Beautyhabit and the service-cum-retail spot Luminous. It’s had discussions with larger retail players. However, Frankel and Barber believe the brand isn’t quite ready for a huge retailer or traveling to stores abroad.

“We have so many customers who want our products from Canada, the U.K. and Europe. The opportunities are there, but we need to get to that point,” says Frankel. “The frustrating thing for us is not keeping up with demand and understanding how to be patient about the scaling-up process.”

For independent brands such as Flyte.70 that benefit from independent stores, Frankel and Barber hope to offer a meaningful launch pad. “It’s about going back to those mom-and-pop shops that people really love that are a destination. We have customers that sit here for two hours while they’re buying products,” say Frankel. “Those are the type of stores we want to be in ourselves, and it’s sad to see a lot of them close their doors because they can’t keep up with the Ultas and Sephoras. There is room for different ways of shopping, and we are at a slower pace.”