Body Shop to close half its UK stores – with seven shutting today
The Body Shop is set to shut nearly half of its 198 UK shops after the cosmetics chain fell into administration last week.
It will also cut around 270 head office jobs as part of a heavy restructuring. Administrators for the business said seven of its shops will shut their doors for good today. It confirmed the closure of its stores at Surrey Quays London, Oxford Street London, Canary Wharf London, Cheapside London, Nuneaton, Ashford town centre Kent and Queens Road Bristol.
Administrators for FRP Advisory said in a statement: "After years of unprofitability and following a full evaluation of The Body Shop's UK business, the joint administrators have concluded that the current store portfolio mix is no longer viable.
"This swift action will help re-energise The Body Shop's iconic brand and provide it with the best platform to achieve its ambition to be a modern, dynamic beauty brand that is able to return to profitability and compete for the long term."
The seven stores shutting down today are:
- Oxford Street/Bond Street, London
- Canary Wharf, London
- Cheapside, London
- Nuneaton, Warwickshire
- Ashford Town Centre, Kent,
- Bristol Queens Road, Bristol
- Surrey Quays, London
Aurelius, the German buyout company that purchased The Body Shop for £207 million back in November, last week released a statement confirming an administrator had appointed. The statement on February 13 read: "Today, the Directors of The Body Shop International Limited have appointed Tony Wright, Geoff Rowley, and Alastair Massey of business advisory firm FRP as Joint Administrators of the company, which operates The Body Shop's UK business.
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"Taking this approach provides the stability, flexibility, and security to find the best means of securing the future of The Body Shop and revitalising this iconic British brand. The Joint Administrators will now consider all options to find a way forward for the business and will update creditors and employees in due course."
Long before making its mark in precincts up and down the country, The Body Shop started as a small shop in Brighton with big ideas about what an ethically sourced, natural-focused beauty business could look like. Dame Anita Roddick opened the first shop in 1976, and blended her talents for entrepreneurship with her passion for environmental campaigning and social justice.
For many people, Anita's decision to sell The Body Shop to cosmetics giants L'Oréal in 2006 proved divisive. The founder made £130 million from the sale, and defended her decision at the time, stating: "The campaigning, the being maverick, changing the rules of business - it's all there, protected. And it's not going to change. That's part of our DNA. But having L'Oréal come in and say we like you, we like your ethics, we want to be part of you, we want you to teach us things, it's a gift. I'm ecstatic about it. So I don't see it as selling out."
Although The Body Shop had been lauded for its rapid expansion in the '80s, in recent times the number of bricks-and-mortar shops has proven unsustainable when taking into account eye-watering rent and business rates.
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