Francisco Costa Brings Costa Brazil Back to Life with First New York Store

Costa Brazil has planted its flag in Manhattan. The skin care and fragrance label opened its first permanent retail space this week at Hudson Yards, marking a major milestone in the brand’s revival under founder Francisco Costa, the former Calvin Klein womenswear designer.

The store carries the full product line, including top sellers like the $198 Aroma Eau de Parfum and the $98 Kaya Jungle Firming Body Oil. But Costa isn’t just selling bottles and jars. He’s planning monthly talks with artists and collaborators, turning the space into something closer to a cultural salon.

“This is not a PowerPoint brand,” Costa said. “Costa Brazil came to life by exploring nature and working with it in the best ways. That’s why the store matters. People want experiential retail now, and this is an experiential store, a tactile brand.”

Costa launched the brand in 2018. Two years later, beauty conglomerate Amyris bought it. When Amyris exited beauty in 2023, Costa bought it back for $4.6 million. By early 2024, he had relaunched.

“Our community is the only reason we survived those hardships and put the brand back together,” Costa said. The flagship, designed with Alexander May, is meant to deepen that connection. “We want people to understand who we are. We love art, music, great design. The Costa Brazil world is humble but luxurious.”

The U.S. drives most of the business, though about 13 percent of online sales come from Brazil. The brand sells through its own site, Bluemercury, Nordstrom online, select hotels, and soon Bloomingdale’s. Two new scents are in the works for 2026.

“We’re building a lifestyle brand,” Costa said. “The products will cover that.”