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?

Agree with a pp it needs to bring back the perfume oils and the amazing Ananya et al.
I think was THE place to go and treat yourself to something to make you feel a bit special and was where I would wander around during lunch breaks at sixth form. Now if you go in you are pounced upon by the sales assistants and/or watched and treated like a shop lifter imo and it's far too expensive and not nicely packaged. Bring back the green labels and little trial sized treasures.

God, we loved going in in the 80s with a few quid to spend. I’d buy Rose Musk perfume oil, coconut oil shampoo, blonde henna powder and honey lip balm in a pot. It would be heaving with teenage girls.
It’s become something quite different now and lost its soul.

I love the ginger hair care and the skin defense but it's too expensive to buy regularly. All of it is overpriced and the fragrances dont last. A lot of vanilla and strawberry. The christmas stuff is the same three scents each year, but with a twist - berry, vanilla and peppermint. The soaps are lovely. I remember clearly getting a gift set one Christmas with about 8 different 60ml shower gels. Oh and the bath pearls! I loved the original banana shampoo which was actually pulped bananas. Too many body butters and yoghurts now which admittedly are rather good but yeah... not for me. Pushy staff too.

It used to be cheap and cheerful, it’s now expensive in comparison.

This!

The one in our town was always heaving and I spent most of my pocket money or Saturday job money there-it was lovely stuff and affordable. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in that same store for about ten years except the girls that work there! My teen girl certainly couldn’t afford to buy much there.

I like the Vitamin C skin boost/reviver but it’s still too expensive.

It is annoying though when you get a 25% off or 40% off email then find the This isn't included in any promotion sign on what you actually want to buy .

I smile nicely and say "I'm just looking thanks" and get on with it but then I do get ignored in shops anyway

They do have some Must Haves - in our house it's Ginger shampoo for DS and DH , I like the shampoo but only with the Ginger conditioner .
Camomile Butter Balm
I bought the Coconut shower gel recently , it's nice .

They stopped making my favourite hair conditioner. It was really popular, even the shop assistants couldn't understand why?! Don't bother going in now.

I never went back after L'Oreal as pp said.

We don't test on animals but fine to sell to someone that does when there's a lot of money on the line. Hypocrites.

White musk used to be my perfume of choice. I think they used to be unique in that they guaranteed cruelty free but now so many companies offer that they became irrelevant.

Some of the happiest memories of my early teenage years centre round The Body Shop.

We didn’t have one where I grew up, but there was a branch where my older sisters lived, and one where I used to go on holiday.

I used to love going and spending my money on little treats.

My best-ever Christmas present was a huge basket of stuff from there that my sister put together for me. Dozens of little bottles - I thought I’d died and gone to Heaven.

Best products from way back :

Strawberry shower gel.
Peppermint foot lotion.
Japanese facial scrub made with Aduki beans.
Banana shampoo and conditioner - the conditioner was basically mashed banana.
Mandarin shower gel.
Little wooden balls soaked in perfume oil were gorgeous natural air-fresheners.
White musk perfume.

The internet and the expansion of supermarket stocking of beauty products have killed them. Possibly Lush as well although I think they are suffering too.

I've recently gone back to Body Shop, mainly for make up. I have been a Lush fan for years but they have changed their make up and I can't try it as its only currently in London so I've started getting my make up from Body Shop Unfortunately loads of companies that say they don't animal test (such as Avon) don't in this country, but if they export to China they insist on animal testing so the company still supports animal testing. The new company that has bought Body Shop have stopped animal testing completely. They have also started a similar thing to Lush whereby if you return 5 empties you get £5 on their advantage card thingy which is also good as it shows they are pushing to return to their ethical roots.

Used to shop there a lot until it became far too expensive.

They had a stall at my local food fair this weekend and I was quite surprised to see them there. No one was bothering looking at their stall though, including me.

I should say that I used to go in there and buy toiletries and some other stuff when I was younger, but haven't been in one for well over 10 years. I get all the basics on the weekly shop and get my make up on-line.

They used to do a fine dry oil mist spray which was absolutely lovely. It was sold at in glass bottles and discontinued in about 1999-i bought all 5 bottles of the one I liked -it was all they had left in the bargain basement basket. Would love to know what scent it was!

Their Hawthorne hand cream was the most moisturising, healing thing EVER!

I don't like that body butter anyway, the staff are way too pushy and you can get all the same stuff roundabouts in Superdrug for a tenth of the price charged at the body shop. For those looking for nice perfume then theres Eden perfumes that do mail order all vegan and they last all day.

It feels dated. I walk past and keep walking.

It used to be that you were very aware of their principles when you went to the shop and I liked that. It was obvious they were fair trade, you could refill your bottles and it was affordable. Now you can't find what you want for over-packaged gift sets.

i went to the outlet store in Swindon and got 40% off as I bought 4 items (banana shampoo and conditioners) and because of something to do with my loyalty card I got a body yoghurt for 10p.

I was really pleased.

Ive recently started popping in for banana shampoo and conditioner. I also got some vit c spf30 facial moisturiser - quite nice.

It is expensive though. Plus their testers always seem to be empty.

It used to be affordable and sell nice, effective products in the 90s. They've discontinued or reformulated a lot of stuff and it's really expensive now.

I use to buy pocket money stuff in there; the one in Liverpool city centre was good when I was a kid. Nowadays I go in and baulk at the price of the stuff. I also don't wish to smell like a cake or an ice cream.
Don't get me started on Lush; fucking disgusting shop. I can barely walk past one without having an asthma attack.

I dont visit either lush or body shop as they over priced and rubbish compared to supermarkets to know. Lush makes you sick just the smell

The Oat&Honey Mask Scrub was lovely
Passionfruit Gel Cleanser

They used to do a Green Grass shampoo (not the name but that's what it smelled like) and Hair Salad conditioner

I liked their mascaras because they were sealed . I won't buy an unsealed one because I have no idea if it's been opened.

And my Beech Lipliner was bought when I was single ...I celebrate my Silver Wedding next year . Still got the liner .