Skin Inc closed its only store overnight, stranding prepaid customer credits

On February 13, 2025, the sole physical store of home-grown skincare brand Skin Inc — 650 sq ft in Ion Orchard's basement since 2008, housing a facial cabin and retail space — closed without notice. Two days later the company said on Instagram the closure came 'in tandem with a brand refresh and repackaging', offering customers with facial packages treatments at partner spas it declined to name publicly. Customers holding prepaid credits learned of the closure only from that post.

Long-time patrons were left frustrated. One customer with more than $700 in credits got 'template replies' saying her credits would now expire at the end of 2025 — previously they had carried no expiry. Another, with about $800, said clauses had blocked her from using credits on new releases and sales for years, and found many products out of stock online — a check by The Straits Times verified the stockouts. Complaints piled onto the brand's Instagram account, which has 94,000 followers.

Founder Sabrina Tan, who started the brand in 2008 and sells it in more than 78 cities including via Bergdorf Goodman, told ST the closure followed failed lease negotiations — 'we really struggled with this store', where consultations ran 30-45 minutes and facials 75 — and a post-Covid plan to phase out bricks-and-mortar while moving facials to partner spas. 'Where we failed was in the communications to customers', she admitted, blaming a 'technical database oversight': the team meant to give two to four weeks' notice but postponed it while cleaning up overlapping mailing lists.

Customers holding $700-$800 or more in credits faced expiry, stockouts and template replies; complaints flooded its 94K-follower account

The store shut before the planned two-to-four-week customer notice went out.

Overlapping customer databases delayed the mail-out while the closure proceeded anyway.

Credits that had no expiry gained an end-2025 deadline precisely when online stock was missing.

The partner spas taking over facials were not disclosed, so customers could not verify the alternative.

A planned exit still needs the customer announcement to go out first — an internal data cleanup is never a reason to skip notice.

A 10-person Singapore customer service team spent days fielding daily queries, offering product credits or one-to-one exchanges of facials for med-spa treatments. Tan said the brand continues online and via Sephora Singapore; Ion Orchard cited commercial confidentiality. The Straits Times verified the stockout complaints.