Queen of ‘vampire facials’ expands skin-care empire to Manhattan

The “Vampire Facial” is coming to Manhattan.

Celeb-favorite skin care expert Barbara Sturm — known to her fans as Dr. Sturm — will open her first full-scale, permanent Big Apple stores in prominent locations this fall.

Sturm’s celebrity followers include Bella Hadid (who credited Sturm’s regimen with saving her skin), Gwyneth Paltrow (who featured Sturm’s eye cream on her GOOP site), Kim Kardashian and Cher. Her signature product is the MC1 Moisturizer, a $1,400 super-cream infused with the purchaser’s own blood that’s used in a so-called “vampire facial.”

Although Sturm has a pop-up on Spring Street and previously had a temporary one at club Zero Bond, the new locations are her first permanent New York locations. She also has stores in Los Angeles, Miami and London.

Both of the long-term Dr. Sturm leases were signed this week.

The larger venue will be a combined spa and retail store at 1006 Madison Ave., a four-story building at East 78th Street. It was previously home to French boutique Roland Mouret.

The asking rent for the 5,000 square-foot location was $600,000 a year, according to Current Real Estate Advisors broker Thomas Mahl, who represented Sturm with Brandon Charnas.

Mahl termed the asking price a “good rent for Madison Avenue,” where weakened demand and multiple store vacancies have depressed rents since the pandemic started.  However, Madison in the East 70s is enjoying a revival with new boutiques filling formerly empty storefronts.

A second Dr. Sturm location at 115 Mercer St. in Soho will also offer products and treatments. The asking rent for 3,500 square feet was $500 per square foot.

Newmark’s Ross Berkowitz and Andrew Taub represented both properties’ owners, the lenders to Thor Equities which lost them in foreclosure.