In which French city was Sephora founded in 1969?

Sephora was founded in Limoges, France, in 1969.

The original business was created under the name Shop 8 by Dominique Mandonnaud. It later adopted the Sephora name and developed a distinctive open-sell beauty-store format, allowing customers to browse products freely rather than relying entirely on counter service.

Sephora expanded through France and became part of luxury-goods group LVMH in 1997. The retailer then grew internationally, combining cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, and beauty tools with an increasingly prominent private-label range.

Paris is often guessed because Sephora is strongly associated with French beauty retail, but its founding city was Limoges. Limoges is also historically known for porcelain, making it an important French commercial and manufacturing center beyond the capital.