The Body Shop

I do like some body shop products but it lost its shine for me and I don't think the body shop at home reps helped

To be honest, I'm slightly surprised they lasted as long as they did. They had some nice products, but nothing so different from what you could get elsewhere for much less, and they never seemed to have attractive deals or offers.

They were original and unique when they came out first. But that was a long time ago, and there are so many places offering similar products nowadays. Plus, as others have said, the hard sell was annoying. I feel sorry for the staff but it's not really a shock.

What can I sub for ginger shampoo and that self heating mask? I still depend on them!

I'd give anything for a pot of their original vitamin E night cream. I used to wake up transformed. TRANSFORMED

And it’s official. Silly silly people. They blew it.

They should allow someone to make the exact recipe of the original hemp hand cream.

That before they took the beeswax out was the best handcream ever for people who have dry skin .
Tried loads over many years- that was best.
They are idiotic to have changed the formula.

Much like Pears Soap did.

Another bad move.

I agree if they bought back the old favourites they'd make a killing

Some years ago I bought the perfume in a spray and it was nowhere near as nice as the original oil version. Harsh versus soft smelling if that makes sense.
So many comments on these threads about the perfume bar and the original lines like Dewberry and Fuzzy Peach; why they didn’t reintroduce it when they brought in their refill stations is beyond me. Perfect time to bring back an old favourite and entice former regular shoppers back I’d have thought.

I get what the op is saying. When I was 16/17 years old,the body shop was the only shop that was cruelty free back in the late 80s and early 90s. I had the original "against animal testing" tote bag that I loved to use and try and spread the word.

I also seem to remember someone on here who said they worked for them and did an AMA or similar. Loads of people said they should go back to the Fuzzy Peach/perfume bar/Dewberry days. Why don’t they listen??

This was a few years ago and I think before JKR.

Since they made the white musk body spray vegan,that smells awful now too 😔

They did a Baby Burriti range. Bought it when my daughter was born 12 years ago. Used it for a while as I loved the product then it was gone. They discontinued lots of my favourite things over the years.

I'd love them to do an 80s and 90s revival of Dewberry,Ananya, animal shaped soaps,the perfume oil bar,etc in the old style packaging. I'm sure people would flock back. Myself included.

Not surprised at all. I was a customer but stopped when it decided it didn't know what a woman was any more. Plus attacking JKR. Go woke, go broke.

They discontinued some of my favourite ranges. I loved the sensitive stuff. They changed everything to vegan at the expense of some of the formulas.

They are no longer the only cruelty free/ fair trade company now. Many companies do it far better and don't attack their customers.

They are to pricey for what they are selling. What they sell are not considered a full luxury treat product for me, yet it's out of my everyday price range. For example I used to buy the shower gels once every couple of months for a change from my normal one, it was a little bit more expensive but not enough to put me off to mix it up a bit in the shower. Last time I attempted to buy a shower gel I thought "how much, nope no way" and put it back. If I'm spending that much I'm definitely having something really nice.

I hate been jumped on in shops, I avoid lush for this reason. Last time I went in I wanted some shea hair and body oil (apparently discontinued now), the shop assistant told me they had never stocked it (she had been there years and it was never stocked), I must be confused and it has always been coconut oil. I walked out. I have the bottle at home and it is shea body oil.

@GellerYeller I use hand cream from either Nature Republic or Sephora. Unfortunately the Sephora scent I like (Mango) appears not to be available in the UK 🙄 but I imagine their other scents are the same formula and are just as good.

of course the bath pearls.

As mother of teens in the 80s I loathed bloody bath pearls, they acted like the stuff sprayed on oil spills and created an awful sludge on the side of the bath that was hard to shift!

To be fair, this is like Nivea, and Nivea for MEN. Women are the default for these kind of products. The opposite is tools, and tools for WOMEN, in PINK!

I wonder if Next will buy the rights like they have with so many other companies.

I don't understand how they managed to get it so wrong. Everyone says they would love to be able to buy the old favourites, everyone finds them overpriced. Back to basics would have been such a simple way to turn the business around.

The owners are the problem. They're not interested in being innovative or ethical or nostalgic, they want a nice, safe product with good profit margins (which generally means worse ingredients and poor ethics) for a return on their investment. The result is bland crap which we've seen over and over again - look at Accessorize which used to have a indy/India vibe. Now it's the same boring nothingy shit you see in every chain.

The private equity owners are only ever interested in how much an asset (and that's all the Body Shop is to them) is worth and how much they can flog it on for. If the business is failing, they'll asset strip it and chuck the carcass to the administrators. Look at what they did to Debenhams.

Nope, the prices weren’t my concern. I stopped shopping with them as a direct result of their behaviour towards JKR. As did many on this thread according to previous posts, as did many across the country. Now they’ve gone bust. Doesn’t look like a random coincidence.

What do you mean “nobody WOULD give a shit”? Clearly we did.

I used to love Body Shop but like many others I haven’t set foot in there since the JKR nonsense. I walked past frequently though and their shop was always empty. I’m surprised they lasted as long as they did.

It's not actually, back in the 80's if you were heavily into the ethics of helping small farmers, not testing on animals, reusing plastic etc then they were quite revolutionary

I predict this will end up a case study for marketing and business students.

They used to be ethical and profitable, and managed to fuck up on both fronts.

I loved them as a teen/young woman because I was a vegetarian and very into my animal rights and they were unique in that way. I was so disappointed when they went to L'Oreal!

I went in one in Leeds to return something and asked for a refund (not because of them going to L'Oreal, I'd bought the wrong product) and when the assistant suggested a credit note instead I told them I wouldn't be purchasing anything from them any longer-I didn't expect it but she got SO annoyed with me about it! was quite rude. I suspect looking back that she'd been hearing people say things like that constantly!