The Body Shop is going for insolvency

[Gymnopedie]

Only recently bought, the new owners either weren't told or didn't absorb the information about the amount of debt compared to assets.

It could mean anything from total closure to restructuring the finances or any point in between. If there's a particular TBS product you like, stock up.

Body Shop prepares for insolvency process

(Link from This Is Money and elsewhere via MSN)

@Elvanseshortage try the Cantu range. The guava shampoo is good.

i've used them on and off for years. I have a few faves that i occasionally buy, but i found them to be quite expensive for a brand that i don't think is high end.

I used to buy coconut hand cleanser. This was obviously years before covid and sanitiser. Used to love my hands smelling like I’m on holiday. The small bottles were 60p as well.

The good old days.

They fucked up when the removed the perfume bar and standard green labels on everything which made the contents of the bottle exciting and gave a sweet shop feel to the place. Also in recent years I have noticed staff jump on you as soon as you enter the shop, the whole point of the place was you were able to browse quietly. I missed their attack on JKR but how nasty. Lush’s day will come when their rainbow hair warriors grow up or gravitate to somewhere woker. It’s a shame because most women of my age have a Bodyshop scent that takes them back (White Musk/Anaya) but it’s their own fault for abandoning their target market.

I remember years ago I did a market research for body shop and asked why they didn’t do nail varnish (in the age of Spectacular 99p nail varnish). I was told in no uncertain terms that Anita didn’t approve. It was like a comment from the 1950’s. They kind of lost me a bit too.

I’m not surprised either. 80s body shop was amazing and if they’d kept to the eco credentials and quality products they might have had a chance. I always wandered in out of nostalgia, but all the old products are gone, and everything was so expensive.

Their outlets are always busy. So they clearly do have customers, they just aren’t in the high street paying for parking and their high prices. I think the products are right, the marketing, and pricing is all wrong.
I’m not going to try a new item at £16. That’s too much to lose, didn’t they used to do tiny test pots?

There is a place for them, my teens friends all use ordinary stuff and expensive products. So there is a place for a posher feeling lush. They’ve just got it wrong.

I use their ginger shampoo on and off as my scalp is bad. It is obscenely expensive for me (think lidl budget!) .
I’d love to boycott, so i do try not to and then a couple of weeks later I’m like a flea covered dog so back I go.

I use their styling stuff and have wondered about their shampoos, they are expensive if they don’t work so I haven’t.

although cheaper than bodyshop

Chain shops come and go. Other than groceries there are no products or brands that don’t fall in and out of fashion. The more superfluous products are - like niche cosmetics and toiletries - the more vulnerable they are to customer whim.

TBH I’m surprised Body Shop has lasted as long as it has. It’s really just been a stocking filler shop for 20 years.

I love the pink grapefruit hand cream and get a few tubes at Xmas but it's expensive - I know when I go in it's always quiet

We used to love it as youngsters - all the fruity scents, scrubs and the chocolate bubble bath! Now it mostly pungent, botanical smells that don't appeal much to kids.

Went in before xmas for make-up. The foundation bottles weren't sealed and had obviously been 'tested' by other customers. The assistant told me I could try it out at home and bring it back if unsatisfied but I couldn't help but think how many of them were 'used' and all the fingers that have been at them. Decided not to shop there again.

Not surprised. The one near me is always empty.

Anita Roddick (RIP) built a great brand but TBS hasn't been the same since it was sold on.

I’m sad about this as I had a Saturday job in there as a teenager in the early 90s, the heyday with the lovely Japanese washing grains, apricot lip balm in a little glass jar, squidgy kids soap, the perfume bar etc. It was always rammed on a Saturday, and before Xmas was a nightmare! No barcodes on the products either so I had to learn all of the prices by heart 😁. It definitely lost its way after Roddick died and it was sold off, it changed and it tried to position itself as higher end, but no-one wants to pay inflated prices for Body Shop stuff, it was always more cheap and cheerful. I wonder if it went back to its roots if it could survive…

When we were teenagers it was totally revolutionary. The other options for cosmetics on the average high street were Boots or the local chemists, both were largely aimed at older women and had limited ranges. Or department stores which were expensive and intimidating. Now natural and eco friendly products are far more mainstream and used by middle aged women who were those teenagers but the teens want the high end stuff they’ve seen on SM. There are also far more options on the High Street with Superdrug, Lush, etc.

To anyone wanting to stock up on white musk before it goes, they've changed the formula and it doesn't smell the same apparently. So I would test it out before buying g a load online.
I've still got a really old bottle of white musk that I kept for the memories - the smell of my childhood, that is. It's still gorgeous and one of my favourite smells.
And I remember living in Germany for a bit in my 20s and being so excited when I found a branch of the Bodyshop and could get some Shea body butter.
But they've completely fucked that business - did no one in charge not notice how it went for Gerald Ratner when he insulted his own customers?
And the prices! Utterly mad.

I like the Tea Tree Hair Scrub for when my peri-hair is just too greasy, it really sorts it out. Prob stock up on that!

I'm usually too lazy/easily bought off to sustain personal boycotts but I happily swerved The Body Shop after the JKR business.

body shop has had less and less people in it for years.

agree in my early 20s it was great, banana shampoo, grapefruit shampoo, etc., but no longer appealing

One of their biggest mistakes I think was when they sold to Nestle not long after their baby milk scandal. It forever ruined the whole 'ethical' company vibe.

TBS as I remember it in the 80s was about sustainable, eco friendly and affordable skin care. Didn't they used to do makeup lessons for teens that included a whole "what skin type" you had so you might buy a face wash etc too?

Last time I went in they wanted £15 for a tiny pot of hand cream that certainly did not smell remotely like the fruit on the lid. Those weird giant sinks taking over half of the shop just to sell one product? Everything looks mass produced and cheap but three times the price. It's turned into a dull Bath Body Works or whatever that American shop is called.

Sad news. I used to be a frequent shopper in the last two decades, I loved their products. A year ago when I stepped again into the shop they had completely changed their products, the old ones I used to buy where no longer available and instead I was faced with some very strange and expensive products that I had zero interest in. I guess I wasn’t the only one because the store was empty while the sales girls sat behind the counter checking their phones. TBS closing down doesn’t surprise me, their new line of products was too weird and too pricey.

Sad as reminds us all of being younger. Anita Roddick was ahead of her time, I was gutted when L'Oreal bought it and that was before she died. Just couldn't believe she would do that 😔

I remember years ago I did a market research for body shop and asked why they didn’t do nail varnish (in the age of Spectacular 99p nail varnish). I was told in no uncertain terms that Anita didn’t approve. It was like a comment from the 1950’s. They kind of lost me a bit too

You probably counted have got a nail varnish that was cruelty free and without all the potential allergens for a decent price .

I know Barry M has been around forever (Dazzle Dust anyone) but I don't know how long they've sold nail products .

Anyway- TBS
I'll miss Ginger Shampoo and Conditioner - DH and DD use this . I bought the refill aluminiam bottles .
DD likes the Camomile Balm.

But the pounving on customers as they set foot in the door gets my back up .

I don’t doubt that AR and the firm’s policies were genuinely rooted in ethical concerns, but the ‘not tested on’ and ‘against animal testing’ were always a bit weaselly, especially after cosmetics testing on animals was outlawed in Europe.

I always thought that being in the ‘beauty’ and fancy toiletries business at all was a bit ethically questionable anyway.

I completely agree with this. Consumers are getting increasingly agitated by the constant bandwagon jumping of these companies. It's so insincere. What is wrong with valuing and catering to your core market?

I'll never own a BMW in my life-I'm not that brand's core market, so I do not expect BMW to start trying to appeal to me. Why would they? That would be an utter waste of their time and money.

And why is it that only brands that predominantly sell to women seem to feel that we need this constant political spouting from companies? Just decide on your ethical stance, produce products at the correct price point for your market and leave us alone. I don't need a moisturiser to align with my political beliefs.

It's so infantilising.