The owner of Buds, Beans and Books has made way for A.S. Cooper to move into his premises on Front Street and bring back cosmetics lines that have been absent from Bermuda since Trimingham?s closed in July.

The department store, which currently has its departments dispersed throughout a number of locations while it rebuilds its original store, plans to open up its new cosmetics and fragrance store by October 24.

Coopers operations manager Somers Cooper said that his company has been literally pounding the pavement since its bid to secure the Smith?s building on Front Street fell through.

?We were unable to put the necessary players together in order to take over the whole building so we were unable to go forward with that,? he said. ?We have been pounding the pavement for quite some time now and when we lost Smith?s we really had to make fast choices and we approached [the owner of Buds Beans and Books Mr. Casling and he was amenable.?

This newspaper understands that Mr. Casling plans to turn the northern section of the building into a separate sunglasses and cigar store with an entrance on Par-la-Ville Road.

A.S. Cooper plans to move its cosmetics department which includes feature Est?e Lauder, Clinique, Clarins, Yves Saint Laurent, Fashion Fair and a few other lines into its new store when construction is completed in 2007.

The department store will occupy just two of the seven floors in the new, mixed use building and already has agreements in place to sell two other floors.