What has happened to Body Shop?

[puddingsforsandy]

Yes I know it was sold off a long time ago but it's unrecognisable in terms of products and prices. Half of the stuff I used to buy years ago like their body butter and perfume oil have really gone up in price. The perfume oil must have changed ingredients as the smell is so weak compared to a few years ago. Their makeup is Mac prices.

The sale stuff are rubbish and still expensive.

Does anyone here still shop there?

I don't know what Lush's target market is but I love a lot of their products and the knowledgeable, helpful assistants and I'm mid-40s. I'm not bothered about the soaps and bath bombs, but their skin care products are brilliant for my super sensitive skin and the henna blocks are great, as is one of their hair masks.

I never shopped there. Their motto was always against animal testing but everyone in the industry knew they tested on animals anyway because government legislations decreed that they had to.

WhoKnows the skincare is why I went in to Lush - someone mentioned how great 'Angels on Bare Skin' is and I remembered using it years ago so popped in to see if they still had it (they do, for anyone who is interested).

I was determined to buy it (and did) but the pushiness might deter someone popping in for a browse.

I think the pushiness of Lush must depend where you are, it's not a problem I've ever had. I don't shop there as much as I used to, just don't get the chance to anymore.

I have got the Ice Blue Shampoo from their 80s products re-launch a while back. I had high hopes for them bringing back more of the old lines but it was not to be.
The polar bear soap that smelled of coconut!! I refused to use mine as he was too cute so he sat on my windowsill till he disintegrated.

Oh, I used to buy from CTG too and also visited their shop in Poole! They went bankrupt without fulfilling my final order. That's about £6.53 in early 90s money please Lush!

If I'm remembering correctly they had a massive sale they got bombarded by orders and the computer system broke so they could not match the orders to the customers and all hell broke loose

I used to love the body shops Shea butter range. I think the tub was £8 in the late nineties when I started buying it. It was retailing £12-£16 the last time I bought any and have refused to buy since she sold out to l'oreal. They must cost more now.

I still have fond memories of the first thing I ever bought. I was 12 and I think it was called ice blue shampoo. It smelled really minty.

Lush IMO stinks. I did used to use angels on bare skin and ultrabland as well as a couple of their face masks but I cannot stand the smell.

The staff are pushy as they have to sell something like £5 worth of products to every customer that walks in. If you look to your side in the doorway there are little black boxes that keep a count of customers if you watch staff enter and leave they duck underneath the black boxes.(Sulks away with that useful info from sister who used to work there)

I don't find the Lush staff pushy, they just ask if you need help and if you say no thanks they go again. However when I was younger I might have thought that was pushy.

Flippinada - yes, Angels is on my regular shopping list, they've got an even gentler seasonal version called Buche de Noel which I switch to in Winter, smells lovely.

BS did a perfume in the late '90's called Leap which smelled of cut grass and summer. I bloody loved it.

Ps- my dsis still loves lush and adored working there.

"The staff are pushy as they have to sell something like £5 worth of products to every customer that walks in."

Ah! Mystery solved.

My stepmum gives me Body Shop gift vouchers every year for my birthday. I wish she wouldn't - their stuff is so chemically and wrong these days. I feel sad when I th

Stupid phone. I feel sad when I think of all the lovely products they used to do - orange bath oil, ice blue shampoo, banana conditioner. I don't miss the dewberry overload though.

Another who spent her teenage years reeking of Dewberry :)
I've not been in for years now as it got too expensive for what it was. I continued to buy it occasionally in adulthood but they weakened the smell and as someone who needs a rather strong perfume (not because I stink :) but because I'm always hot and burn aroma's off my skin quite fast) it just didn't do it for me anymore.

Help me out please, I remember also buying the Ananya but there was another I loved but can't for the life of me think of the name - it had a musky smell but was also very spicy ??? anyone put me out of my misery please?

One great thing I will say about lush is this,

Not that long ago I took one of my teenagers in there he's very obviously disabled,he wanted to buy himself £10 worth of bath bombs with his pocket money.

They quite happily let him loiter near a big silver basin they had for almost an hour testing each different bath bomb they had with a staff member who was intensely discussing the merits of each one with him replaced the water when needed and probably used about £50 worth of stock to help him with his decision.

There was no way at all that they could know that as a result of this every single member of my family would then end up buying ds several of these bombs for Christmas (if anybody tried to buy dragons eggs and twilight bombs Christmas week I apologise for the lack of stock in certain areas). And we were very open that he only had £10 to spend.

Spottybra,I think your sister got it wrong saying everyone has to be sold £5 of stuff.my job would be a damn sight easier if it was only £5!it's more like £15-20.
Yes customers are counted,report daily on how many people you convert,if you get groups of customers like families or friends you can be penalised for not converting enough people.
We also get reports on how much you spend,how many items are in your basket.if it's not over the magic amount again penalised.
Sales targets are often extraordinarily unrealistic,penalised if not achieved.
Pressure can be massive.

I've only been in Lush once, for five minutes. The smell gave me a sicky headache.

That sounds grim iceclear. It's useful to have some targets but that sounds unfair to staff and completely counterproductive.

Some Lush stores have bowels of coffee around because when you smell it it resets your nose. Wish more of them did, it's a brilliant idea and combats that overbearing smell.

I went to a perfume shop that had the bowls (not bowels!) of coffee beans for exactly the same reason, so you could reset your nose in between sniffing all the perfumes, it did work.

LOL I can't even blame the pad for that one

I've got a BS banana conditioner in my bathroom which I'm sure I bought in 2013. As mentioned it is a different formula from the one I remember but it does smell nice.

I'm put off going in Lush now I know staff will be penalised if I don't buy anything!

I loved the body shop as well as a teen, I was so excited when they opened in Glasgow!

I still actually like their products but yes, they are expensive so I wait for their sales and online offers. My favourite is the coconut body scrub, if u rub this on dry skin and then shower, it works wonders.

I've bought some of their make up eg the "baked" colour blusher and loved it, get loads of compliments.

The staff in the one near me are fantastic. Really genuine customer service, never any hard sell. I also find the staff in Lush to be excellent as well. I love Lush but it IS very expensive; a bar of soap is gone all most on one wash!

You, not "u "