Fontana aims for chunk of $1.4bn makeup market, bets beauty is recession-proof

Óra by Fontana, the beauty division of the pharmacy chain, continues to expand its line-up across price tiers to capture a greater share of Jamaica’s $1.4 billion makeup import market.

CEO Anne Chang said demand is holding up in hard times. “Beauty is not discretionary,” she told the Financial Gleaner. “Women see it as necessary.”

Óra’s range spans mass to premium. In August, it began selling Ruby Kisses, a mid-market line. “It’s already doing very, very well,” Chang said without disclosing numbers.

Ruby Kisses, is a youth-focused beauty brand distributed through more than 60,000 retail outlets across over 90 countries worldwide.

Jamaica’s makeup imports rose 10 per cent in 2025, the year Hurricane Melissa struck, to US$8.7 million ($1.4 billion) from US$7.9 million a year earlier, according to United Nations Trade Map data. Chang said volunteers in the storm’s aftermath wore a “full face” of makeup. They wanted to “feel good” despite the hardship, she said.

The island’s make-up imports are also about 50 per cent above the COVID-19 low of US$5.8 million in 2020. The figures likely undercount informal imports and some online and overseas purchases.

Premium labels at Óra include Fenty, YSL, Valentino, Burberry, Givenchy, Chloé, and Miu Miu. Mass drugstore names include L’Oréal, Maybelline, and L. A. Girl. Social-media-driven skincare brands such as COSRX, Mario Badescu, Sol de Janeiro, and Korea’s Medicube sit in between. The breadth is meant to dissuade shoppers from buying online or abroad.

More than 80 per cent of the island’s makeup imports come from the United States. China is next at about US$500,000, followed by the United Kingdom and Côte d’Ivoire at about US$170,000 each.

Fontana pays duty and shipping on its imports but tries to keep prices within reach, Chang said. New products are tested against what customers request and can afford. Scale is a constraint. “We do not have the population to support as many brands as everybody wants to see here,” she said.

Luxury houses are particular about where their products are sold. “They don’t want to necessarily be associated with a pharmacy,” Chang said. Landing some of these brands took two to almost three years and requires detailed reporting on sales and promotions.

“Even though I’d love to put Valentino in every store, I can’t,” she said.

Three locations of 11 locations

Fontana opened Óra locations in April 2025. The Sovereign Centre store in Kingston stands alone. Stores in Waterloo, St Andrew, and Fairview, Montego Bay, sit inside Fontana pharmacies with their own signage.

Fontana reclaimed the Sovereign Centre space from M.A.C. Cosmetics, which had subleased it. “We told M.A.C. to vacate the space because we wanted it for Óra,” Chang said.

M.A.C.’s last social posts were 150 weeks ago.

Inside, Óra, the look is closer to an airport duty-free hall than a drugstore, with black cabinetry and backlit glass cases. Fenty Beauty has its own corner, with a makeup application counter.

Fontana reported record revenue of $10.7 billion for the year ended June 2026, up 12.4 per cent. It doesn’t disclose how much comes from beauty.

Jamaica recorded three consecutive quarters of economic decline following Hurricane Melissa, with GDP contracting by 7.1 per cent in the December 2025 quarter, 4.1 per cent in the March 2026 quarter, and 2.9 per cent in the June 2026 quarter, according to data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica. Notably, retail trade, which includes the beauty sector, rebounded at a faster rate than the broader economy, posting growth of 0.6 per cent in the June quarter.

carolyn.guniss@rjrgleaner.com