The Body Shop: What happened to the nation's favourite beauty store

Publish date: 2024-09-01

This might be the end of the cult beauty chain as we know it...

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Today a little bit of my (and likely thousands of others) teenage heart broke as the news broke earlier this morning that the cult brand The Body Shop has officially gone into administration.

The brand launched back in 1976 and was the brainchild of Dame Anita Roddick. Anita was a pioneer in the beauty industry and changed the modern world of cosmetics for the better. 

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The Body Shop all started as a small shop providing quality skin care products in refilled bottles, inspired by a belief that the business could be a force for good in the world. The Body Shop was one of the first skincare brands to launch an entire product line that was cruelty-free. 

"In my teens, The Body Shop’s tea tree range was a constant in my skincare regime."

Since the brand's inception, The Body Shop quickly rose to fame, opening more than 3,000 stores in more than 70 countries, 250 of those stores in the UK. The brand was insanely popular in the 2000s amongst teenagers and mothers of young girls as they also produced a range of clean makeup. I personally recall shopping at the store with my mum as a teenager, the brand's tea tree range was a constant in my skincare regime. It was also the first makeup range I ever tried.

So could this be the end of the cult beauty chain? It seems that only the UK is destined for closure. Sky News reported that "the insolvency of its UK arm would not impact the operation of its stores in the rest of the world."

In an article published in the DailyMail, it was said that Aurelius, the company that bought The Body Shop from L'Oreal back in 2017 for around £850 million handed over much of its Europe and Asia enterprises to an unnamed 'international family office' as part of its turnaround strategy for the troubled retailer which according to the brand's website employs around 10,000 people globally. 

It seems that the idea to close the UK branches has been in the works for a while now, as in the same article it was reported that in November of last year, news emerged that the high street beauty retailer agreed to sell its 250 stores after "struggling with profitability."

So, if you’re a fan of The Body Shop and its vast array of lotions and potions, then I suggest you act quickly and stock up now before it’s too late.

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