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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder what happened to Body Shop?

437 replies

Handbaghag · 26/08/2019 17:46

Where have they gone wrong? Why are their shops so dead on the high Street. They were buzzing in the 80s. Is it online shopping? Lush?

OP posts:
origamiunicorn · 27/08/2019 06:25

@movingintherightdirection *
I work for The Body Shop (head office)*

As you're HO, please please PLEASE can you rethink your stance on customer service? The reason I don't go into the stores anymore is the constant hassling and upselling. I'm assuming it's a company strategy, like Lush.

Lots of comments here saying the same. It doesn't work, it puts people off. I'm more like to buy stuff when shop assistants leave me alone.

cricketmum84 · 27/08/2019 06:29

Yep to the annoying staff. Can't even step foot in the place without them jumping on you and trying to upsell 20 lip balms. Pretty sure they are commission based!

Heatup165 · 27/08/2019 07:15

TapasForTwo- I read that it’s unclear if the new owner company has animal testing or not

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 27/08/2019 07:45

The Japanese Grains were brilliant at a fraction of Bobbi Brown's price.

Did they discontinue them?

CheckingOutTheQuantocks · 27/08/2019 08:26

This thread has made me so nostalgic for the old Body Shop that if some of the old products were reintroduced I'd definitely be back in there.

I still don't feel too keen on the fruity perfumes, but would love to see:

Those little booklets of papier poudre - they were great for blotting an oily nose and forehead if you had combination skin.
Japanese washing grains
Animal soaps

joyfullittlehippo · 27/08/2019 08:39

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Geraniumpink · 27/08/2019 08:51

Papier poudre has it’s own website and is made in the UK - you can buy it there.

Rbee1574 · 27/08/2019 08:57

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Original poster
Handbaghag · 27/08/2019 09:13

Ah the nostalgia! I managed to buy some ananya perfume oil off eBay. I completely missed a trick on mixing your own perfume though... Never thought of that! Remember feeling very self righteous when I went in to refill a bottle! So many things we all miss! Movingintherightdirection you have great presentation material in this thread for your next meeting!

OP posts:
nevermorelenore · 27/08/2019 09:17

I was given a Body Shop voucher for my birthday. Not been to one in years.

Took one step into the shop and two employees instantly clocked me and starting walking towards me with baskets. So I turned around and left. I hate that kind of sales technique and won’t shop in Lush because they do the same thing.

Gift voucher is still unspent in my purse. I’d buy something online but I can’t really be arsed.

CatteStreet · 27/08/2019 09:21

The Body Shop was my early 90s mecca. It was so lovely.

The simple bottles with simple green label. Minimal packaging. Being able to bring the bottle back for a refill. Simple range of decent products and striking scents. Loved the banana shampoo, raspberry ripple bathing bubbles, and yes the Japanese washing grains! Loved their soaps too.

Then they became like any other overpriced smellies shop, tbh. I think some of their popularity would have faded anyway as the sort of stuff they did became more widely available and less niche, but they could/should have stuck to the green no-frills aspect and would have retained a loyal following, I think.

OrangeCinnamon · 27/08/2019 09:25

Going against the (japanese rice) grain here I still shop there...main reason the Ginger shampoo it is the only thing good for my scalp. Delighted at the reintroduction of the recycling. DD loves their fruity shower gels etc but they are expensive. They do need to do something to attract the teens I feel.

Plus they absolutely need to bring back the bath pearls, animal soaps and that lipstick that was also an eyeshadow and blusher...I think my colour was rosewood

malificent7 · 27/08/2019 09:26

I worked for the body shop and one of my jobs was to say hello to people as soon as they walked through the door...how annoying.

OrangeCinnamon · 27/08/2019 09:27

The 90s themed parties are a brilliant idea!

WhatsNextMrsLandingham · 27/08/2019 09:28

Greeborising - yeah sorry about that. I used to bathe in the stuff in the late 80s/early 90s and could get through a bottle of dewberry perfume in a month, ditto ananya and white musk! Blush

After Roddick sold to L'Oriel they lost me. They have no usp and are very expensive. I don't care that their products are vegan - to my mind this should have been the case last century and doing it now is jumping on the vegan bandwagon as the only thing special about the products is the price.

Bubsworth · 27/08/2019 09:31

I didn't know the Body Shop existed in the 80's?!

WhatsNextMrsLandingham · 27/08/2019 09:40

It definitely did, though I'm talking 1988/89.

CoolcoolcoolcoolcoolNoDoubt · 27/08/2019 09:41

The first beauty item I ever remember having is a solid perfume stick from the Body Shop.. it was a dark pink colour and was in a chapstick type container. I would love to smell it again.

And also the strawberry range that smells like Calpol!

I do have more body butter than I know what to do with though.

I do like Lush but find their customer service can be so full on.. if Body Shop could get the service and recycling right I'd be interested.

whattodowith · 27/08/2019 09:48

Expensive for what it is, always has been. Quite naff antiquated products, none smell that great. I do think Lush has taken a lot of their business but the sale to L’Oréal didn’t help.

Broken11Girl · 27/08/2019 09:48

Yeah, the staff jump on you the second you go in, and don't leave you in peace 😡

Rbee1574 · 27/08/2019 09:48

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sunnybeachtime · 27/08/2019 09:57

Out of interest, why do companies force the staff to be so intrusive?

What are they trying to achieve?

I would say at least 50% of my friends are put off by pushy sales staff, and by that I mean people going up and greeting you/initiating a conversation when you have shown no sign you want them to, and in my case actively avoid eye contact and try to dodge them.

Is it to try and stop shoplifting? I usually leave as I feel observed, is that what the intention is?

Does anyone actually like being greeted immediately and spoken to, and does it make anyone spend more?

SignedUpJust4This · 27/08/2019 10:09

I think the staff are just bored off their tits because no one ever goes in there. They just want company.

AnneLovesGilbert · 27/08/2019 10:11

USP - FOREVER AGAINST ANIMAL TESTING and has been since Body Shop began.

The past is irrelevant. Superdrug offer a great range of own brand products with the same cruelty free credentials and a much lower price.

MissCharleyP · 27/08/2019 10:15

Rbee1574 I think (certainly from my perspective) people regard the make up as “expensive” as they were never really known as a cosmetic house in the same way that Benefit, MAC etc. are. Certainly when I was pre-teen/teen we used to buy soaps/shower gels/play soap/perfume (and the fruity scents were definitely aimed at a young market), bath pearls. They also used to do an amazing peach face scrub. For make up back then we’d get Rimmel/Collection 2000 and (if we were feeling flush!) Bourjois.

The make up was just seen as a side-line. These days I buy Kiko Milano/UD/MAC. Brands like Kiko and Maybelline fill the gap between the very cheap and the higher price point and their stuff is decent. I’d be willing to try the make up but there’s nothing about it that says it’s a must-have.