To wonder what happened to Body Shop?

[Handbaghag]

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?

I worked for The Body Shop back in the 80's and it was very much a moment in time.

It had a strong image with a visibly passionate founder at the helm. Suddenly many ethical and environmental issues were in the spotlight and it struck a chord with Joe Public on the High Street. Everyone became aware of the animal testing aspect of the cosmetics industry.

Our older customers were environmentally savvy and embraced the refill system (how relevant that is today?!). The younger ones thought it was "cool". It was a hippy, friendly, inviting and fun. Everyone loved the products. The shop was always heaving and had a real buzz about it. It had a soul.

Fast forward 30-odd years and the current shops feel sterile. It's a strange fit and it just doesn't feel as genuine somehow. Perhaps that's the problem? It has less of a community feel but more of a corporate one? I dunno

I sometimes buy the banana shampoo and conditioner but that's more to satisfy my nostalgia rather than enjoying a Body Shop experience.....

I remember that tiny shop in the indoor market at Covent Garden as far back as 1981. I think it was their first shop outside of Brighton? Carrot moisturiser - everyone I knew had a pot of that! I have never forgiven them for discontinuing their herbal shower gel. I've spent years searching for something that even came close .

Me too @Nextphonewontbesamsung. And Monsoon along there too!

Speaking of monsoon, they’ve gone a bit the same way.

Used to pick up odd quirky bits there all the time, plus they had a gorgeous perfume, in an orange bottle?

Now it might as well be the prom section of Next.

I know the High st is dying due to online shopping, but I also think it’s because it’s all the same. Same shops, same stock, nothing unique at all.

We went to the US last year and the dc were really looking forward to stocking up. But all the malls were urban outfitters, next, addidas, even claire’s accessories everywhere. Nothing we couldn’t buy in the UK.

There aren’t even the “indie” shops anymore- cockburn st in edinburgh, corn exchange in leeds, even the bloody trafford centre used to have a market where John Lewis is now. The metro centre also used to have a couple of little “streets” of indie shops.

I don’t enjoy shopping any more at all. It’s basically m&s for work trousers and vest tops. I don’t do fashion any more because looking the same as everyone else isn’t fashion to me.

A friend does Body Shop at Home and it used to be the majority of sales were from the shops, but now the largest portion of the business comes from the at home side, so stores are closing.

I do like some of their products and some I just can't find as good a product elsewhere (the non-greasy feel of the body yogurts and the green coffee cream), but some I can get as good for cheaper elsewhere.

Micah I too wonder what happened to the slightly grungy independents that used to be around - where I live, there used to be a number of little arcades behind the main shopping streets that had loads of them. Now the arcades have mostly been blocked off again or subsumed into bigger chain stores nearby. Back in the 90s there was a shop that sold nothing but second hand velvet, cord, denim and leather jackets for a tenner each. It was brilliant! You'd struggle to find anything comparable even in a charity shop now.

@Micah and @Checkingoutthequantocks

I fondly remember a little boutique called Fred’s off the King’s Rd. it sold mostly handmade A line skirts, mostly tartan, denim stuff, Perspex jewellery and very simple but unusual clothes and accesories. I suppose it was a bit Vivienne Westwood “lite” and cheap as chips.

@bikerunski

Yes i took dc down carnaby st recently too and that’s gone mainstream. 15 years ago it had lots of shops you didn’t see anywhere else. London generally had many empty units, not the shopping experience it once was. Could be any high st or shopping centre anywhere.

Where do all the goths and 6th formers get their clothes these days? Embroidered tasselled tie die tops and shirts, indie band t-shirts etc?

There is a specialist Goth clothing shop near me, but then my county also hosts the annual Goth weekend in late October so they have to get their gear somewhere! I'm guessing anything outside the mainstream is generally bought online, but the joy of rifling through the racks of slightly shonky unbranded tartan stuff and Tibetan woven coats is largely gone now.

It's the councils. I live in a large northern city (not Manchester or Leeds!) and our council wants rates of 20k pa for 120 sq ft, small window and you have to go up eight flights of stairs for water/toilets.

Add in stock, insurance, staff and rent and nobody has a hope in hell!

@Micah "I know the High st is dying due to online shopping, but I also think it’s because it’s all the same. Same shops, same stock, nothing unique at all."

That's the nail on the head right there. So many retailers are complaining about rents, rates, Brexit, minimum wage and so on but the real issue is that their offering is shit. So many brands that were once interesting or different have homogenised and become so utterly boring. A case in point is Accessorize - they used to sell beautiful Indian-style jewellery and yet all their jewellery is now the same as every other high street shop, their bags are always faux leather and the whole shebang smacks of being nothing special with a price tag as if it was.

The restaurant industry is the same - Jamie bloody Oliver has whinged from here to Christmas about why his restaurants struggled but the truth was - from the reviews I've read - that they were overpriced with crap service and rubbish food, having long since sold their ethical credentials down the river.

When I go into the town centre there's so very few shops I bother with because the rest are boring. And, of course, the vast majority of independents have long since been forced out by redevelopment and astronomical rents from landlords who wanted a big chain as a tenant. Round here we used to have a fantastic independent Asian restaurant but they were turfed out for a bloody TGI Fridays with a big cheque book. And we had an arcade of little indy shops including a vintage clothing place and a good record store but they were chucked out when a developer bought the site. The developer promptly went bust and the shops have been empty for over a decade. No doubt they'll eventually be turned into luxury flats.

If they want to be staid and boring, the chains deserve all they get. And the same goes landlords who won't support independents.

The restaurant industry is the same - Jamie bloody Oliver has whinged from here to Christmas about why his restaurants struggled but the truth was - from the reviews I've read - that they were overpriced with crap service and rubbish food, having long since sold their ethical credentials down the river.

I went to large social gathering at our local Jamies Italian soon after it opening. About 6 people had ordered the same pasta dish and all found it inedibly salty. They complained. The message came back the chef had checked and said it was fine. None of them finished it and went hungry having paid through the nose. The ~30 people present were so appalled we all agreed we’d never eat there again.