The Body Shop Is Closing 75 Stores, Laying Off More Than 480 U.K. Employees
The Body Shop is set to shutter 75 stores in the U.K. within the next four to six weeks, which will result in the layoff of 489 employees, according to the administrators who are steering the beauty retailer’s restructuring.
On Feb. 20, it was revealed seven stores would be closed. Following the closures, The Body Shop will still have 116 locations operational across the country.
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“As previously indicated, a reduced store footprint will coincide with a renewed focus on the brand’s products, online sales channels, and wholesale strategies, bringing the brand in line with industry peers and supporting a return to financial stability,” the administration firm FRP said in a statement Thursday.
“In taking swift action to right-size The Body Shop U.K. store portfolio, we have stabilized the business and are providing the best opportunity for this iconic brand to have a long-term, sustainable future,” said Tony Wright, joint administrator, in the statement.
“The U.K. business continues to trade in administration, and we remain fully focused on exploring all options to take the business forward,” he added.
The announced changes do not impact The Body Shop’s business outside of the U.K., which is the brand’s birthplace and one of its largest markets.
As previously reported, on Feb. 13 The Body Shop’s new private equity owners Aurelius placed the company into administration in the U.K. Wright, Geoff Rowley and Alastair Massey of FRP were named joint administrators of the company that operates The Body Shop’s U.K. business.
At the time, the administrators said The Body Shop would continue to trade as they look for a buyer of all or parts of the business. Altogether The Body Shop then had about 200 stores in the country and 2,568 employees.
Last weekend Sky News reported that high street retailer and online giant Next plc had approached administrators about purchasing some of The Body Shop’s assets. Next, which declined to comment, has been regularly buying up the assets of failed businesses and reviving them on its platform.
The Leicester, England-based Next manages the Gap-branded shops at Next locations, as well as Gap’s e-commerce business in the U.K.
The Next marketplace carries more than 700 fashion, home and beauty brands. The company is also the U.K. partner for brands including Laura Ashley home and Victoria’s Secret, both of which had earlier filed for administration in the U.K.
The appointment of administrators at The Body Shop comes at a difficult time for brands and retailers alike in the U.K., which are dealing with a decline in consumer confidence, high inflation and soaring interest rates.
The failure of the U.K. business is of particular significance. The Body Shop was founded by Anita Roddick in the U.K. in 1976, and set a template for sustainable brands with “purpose.” Roddick, with her opposition to animal testing and focus on sustainability in manufacturing and the supply chain, was one of the earliest U.K. entrepreneurs to prove that ethics and commerce could work in tandem.
The Body Shop’s administration process is the result of a toxic combination of overexpansion and underinvestment by past owners, and fierce competition in the beauty market. It is also part of a wider restructuring on the part of Aurelius.
There has been more restructuring. Earlier in February, The Body Shop signed an agreement with an international family office to sell most of its business in mainland Europe and parts of Asia. The part of the activity affected equals to about 14 percent of The Body Shop’s business worldwide.
The B Corp-certified company operates around 2,800 retail locations in more than 70 countries.
Brazil-based Natura & Co. sold The Body Shop to Aurelius in mid-November 2023 in a deal valuing the retailer at 207 million pounds.
In third-quarter 2023, The Body Shop’s sales reached 829 million Brazilian reals, or $168.6 million.
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