Founded in 1990 as the discount beauty retailer at the time when prestige, mass or salon merchandise were sold through distinct channelsdepartment stores for prestige merchandise, drug stores or mass merchandisers for mass merchandise, or salons or authorized retail outlets for professional hair care merchandise. After extensive research, we recognized an opportunity to better satisfy how the woman wanted to shop for beauty merchandise, which led to what we believe to be our unique combination of beauty superstore or specialty store attributes. We believe our strategy provides us with the competitive advantages that have contributed to our strong financial performance. Today, ULTA is the largest beauty retailer that provides one-stop shopping for prestige, mass or salon merchandise or salon services in the United States. We focus on providing affordable indulgence to our customers by combining the product breadth, value or convenience of the beauty superstore with the distinctive environment or experience of the specialty retailer.