Hundreds queue overnight for Sephora store opening

Kamran and Mandy were amongst the first people in the queue for Sephora

Hundreds of people spent hours queuing overnight in a shopping centre for the opening of a Sephora store.

Crowds sacrificed sleep by waiting inside the Bullring in Birmingham from Tuesday afternoon until the beauty retailer opened its doors at 10:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Many were motivated by the chance to secure a free goodie bag with beauty products for the first 500 people in the queue.

Kamran was one of those people, he started queuing at about 18:00 on Tuesday to bring his daughters to the event, which he said had "definitely been worth it".

"I don't know much about make-up but my daughters rave about Sephora and have been talking about this for a long time," he said.

Whilst the Bullring usually closes at 20:00, it stayed open throughout the night to allow shoppers to queue.

Mandy travelled from Hereford for the event and said she did not get much sleep, but it was worth it to surprise her daughter with a goodie bag.

Lots of people came prepared to queue overnight with sleeping bags and camp chairs

Evelyn and Holly queued for 14 hours to visit the opening of Sephora and came prepared with camping chairs for maximum comfort.

Despite not sleeping throughout the night in the shopping centre, Evelyn said she felt "completely fine".

"They've been giving out free food and drink so it was quite generous of them," Evelyn said.

"We've never had anything like this, I used to go to Boots just to buy all my make-up and having this in Birmingham makes it easier to buy products," she added.

It is no surprise that professional make-up artists featured in the preparation for the shop's opening

Sephora UK managing director Sarah Boyd said they were "so excited" to be in the Bullring after working to open a location in Birmingham for two years.

"I spoke to the first few people [in the crowd]. We've had birthdays, family groups, anniversaries," she said.

Sarah Boyd said Sephora UK had been working for two years to get into the Bullring

Ms Boyd cut the black ribbon to open Sephora and pressed a button to let the curtain down, resulting in cheers across the top floor of the Bullring.

"To feel the elation for the team inside the store who have been looking forward to this for so long was just incredible," she said.

Screams and cheering were heard above music when Sephora opened its doors

Hundreds of people filled the top floor of the shopping centre