Sephora’s success was not foretold. Indeed, a 1998 New York Times article posed these questions about the store-in-process: “Will women buy as many products if they are not heavily pushed by sales clerks? Will customers appreciate the freedom to wander and try things out at whim?”

The answers, of course, were yes and yes.

— Read more in Opinion: Shopping for perfume is returning to its roots at CNN.

Sephora has drastically changed the way people shop for fragrances in its stores, and it’s blaming store thefts for it.

Sephora told CNN that it has removed all fragrances – which it said are among the most targeted items for theft – from stores shelves and displays and replaced them with fragrance tester bottles.

— Read more in Sephora has locked up all its perfume. It says too many people were stealing.