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The chain has confirmed that 75 shops will shut and hundreds of jobs will be lost

Body butter buffs, hemp oil hounds and cruelty-free devotees – you might want to sit down for this one. After underwhelming sales over January and Christmas, it’s now been confirmed that The Body Shop has called in administrators to save it from going completely bust.
We know, we know – where are you going to get your animal-testing-free self-care delicacies now? Take some deep breaths: here’s everything we know about what’s going on at the cosmetics, skincare and perfume chain.
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While eventually around 100 Body Shops across the country are expected to close, only seven branches have closed so far. They all closed on February 20 – here’s the full list of those closures.
On top of those, it’s now been confirmed that 75 more Body Shops will close over the next four to six weeks. Those locations have now been confirmed – these are the shops that will be closing.
Over the next four weeks, the chain has announced that 489 jobs will be lost. According to Sky News, around 40 percent of staff at the head office will also be cut, with numbers falling to 400 full-time employees.
Sky reports that in 2022 The Body Shop had 927 administrative staff and 1,641 store workers.
It’s apparently very unlikely that The Body Shop will entirely vanish from our high streets. FRP has also said that plenty of shops will remain open during the administration process.
Instead, The Body Shop will focus on reducing costs and building up its online presence, hoping to better compete with brands like Lush that are popular with younger shoppers.
The skincare and cosmetics chain was only taken over by new ownership six weeks before Christmas, but it still struggled to do decent numbers. On top of that, it apparently didn’t have enough working capital to carry on trading in its current form.
Enter: the administrators. Two weeks ago it was confirmed that The Body Shop had appointed administrators at FRP Advisory to oversee an insolvency process, while yesterday (February 29), the brand has confirmed that 75 locations will close – and revealed the exact locations set to shut.
These closures were expected, as FRP will likely need to sell off The Body Shop’s assets to pay off the brand’s debts. With around 200 stores across the UK, thousands of jobs are at risk.
The chain has been owned by Aurelius, a private equity group and investment company, since November 2023. It was founded way back in 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick, though she sold the brand in 2006.
In recent days there have been rumours that fashion and home retailer Next is in talks with FRP to potentially acquire some of The Body Shop’s assets. There aren’t many details on which exact parts of The Body Shop might be bought, though Sky has reported that Next would be unlikely tor retain any Body Shop stores.
Next has previously acquired brands like Joules, Fat Face, Cath Kidston and JoJo Maman Bebe.
The chain has revealed that 116 of its shops will stay open. Here’s the full list of Body Shops that will remain trading.
The Body Shop is only the latest in a long line of stores being forced to reduce their high street presence. We at Time Out have all the details on the biggest high street closures with our complete guide here.
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