News
The Body Shop reveals full list of stores closing including several in Greater Manchester
Sad news for retail
The Body Shop is to shut 75 stores over the next four to six weeks resulting in hundreds of job losses.
It comes after the British cosmetics retailer announced it had fallen into administration, putting 2,000 jobs at risk.
Closures began last month (February 20th) with seven stores shutting: Ashford Town Centre, Kent, Bristol Queens Road, Bristol, Canary Wharf, London, Cheapside, London, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Oxford Street-Bond Street, London and Surrey Quays, London.
More store closures have now been confirmed with 75 closing over the coming weeks – including several in Greater Manchester – and 116 remaining open.
The stores in our region that are closing include the sites in Bolton, Bury, Oldham and Wigan. Meanwhile, the Manchester Arndale, Manchester Royal Exchange, Trafford Park and Stockport branches are remaining open.
Administrators FRP said the retailer’s current portfolio is ‘no longer viable’ after ‘years of unprofitability’ and that the cuts would ‘help re-energise’ the brand.
The Body Shop has around 198 shops in the UK and employs around 2,200 people, including 750 staff at its head office.
Around 270 head office jobs are being cut, reducing roles by 40% and leaving around 400 full-time employees. It will restructure roles at its head office to align with its more financially viable strategy going forward.
The Body Shop ambassador programme, where individuals sell the brand’s products for a commission, is also being closed, FRP said.
There will be a ‘renewed focus’ on products, online sales channels and wholesale as part of its restructuring.
FRP said: “A reduced store footprint, will coincide with a renewed focus on the brand’s products, online sales channels and wholesale strategies, bringing the brand in line with industry peers and supporting a return to financial stability.”
The Body Shop was founded by the pioneering British businesswoman and activist Dame Anita Roddick and her husband in 1976.
It established itself as a ground breaking ethical, sustainable brand, rejecting animal testing on cosmetics and promoting environmentally-friendly products and ethical sourcing practices.
The trailblazing brand has since faced tough competition from other ethical brands including Lush, which was co-founded by Mark Constantine – a former supplier to The Body Shop.
In 2006 the couple sold The Body Shop to French beauty giant L’Oreal.
The Brazilian beauty giant Natura acquired the brand from L’Oreal in 2017, and Aurelius bought The Body Shop for £207m at the end of last year.
The 75 Body Shop stores closing are:
- Aylesbury
- Banbury
- Barnstaple
- Basildon
- Battersea
- Bedford
- Beverley
- Bexleyheath
- Blackburn
- Blackpool
- Bournemouth Commercial Rd
- Bolton
- Brixton
- Broughton Park
- Bury
- Camberley
- Carlisle
- Carmarthen
- Chippenham
- Cirencester
- Croydon
- Didcot
- Durham
- East Kilbride
- Edinburgh Gyle Centre
- Edinburgh Princes Mall
- Epsom
- Fareham
- Farnborough
- Glasgow Braehead
- Glasgow Fort
- Glasgow Silverburn
- Glasgow Station
- Grimsby
- Halifax
- Harlow
- Hastings
- Hempstead Valley
- High Wycombe
- Huddersfield
- Hull
- Ilford
- Ipswich
- Isle of Wight
- Islington
- Kendal
- Kings Lynn
- Leeds White Rose
- Lewisham Centre
- Lichfield
- Loughborough
- Luton
- Macclesfield
- Middlesbrough
- Morpeth
- Newton Abbot
- Northampton
- Oldham
- Perth
- Peterborough Queensgate
- Portsmouth
- Regent Street
- Salisbury
- Stafford
- Stanstead Airside
- Stratford Upon Avon
- Swansea
- Telford
- Thanet
- Trowbridge
- Wakefield Trinity Walk
- Walthamstow
- Wigan
- Woking
- Wolverhampton
The 116 Body Shop stores remaining open are:
- Aberdeen
- Ashford Outlet
- Basingstoke
- Bath
- Belfast Victoria Square
- Birmingham New St.
- Birmingham Bullring
- Bluewater
- Bracknell Lexicon
- Bradford Broadway
- Braintree Outlet
- Brent Cross
- Bridgend Outlet
- Brighton
- Bristol Cabot Circus
- Broadgate
- Bromley
- Bury St Edmonds
- Cannock Outlet
- Cardiff St Davids
- Castleford Outlet
- Canterbury Whitefriars
- Chelmsford
- Cheltenham
- Chesire Oaks Outlet
- Chester Foregate Street
- Chesterfield
- Chichester
- Clarks Village Outlet
- Colchester
- Coventry
- Crawley County Mall
- Cribbs Causeway
- Dalton Park Outlet
- Derby Intu
- Doncaster Lakeside Outlet
- Dudley
- Dundee
- Dunfermline
- Ealing
- East Midlands Outlet
- Eastbourne
- Edinburgh St James
- Enfield
- Fleetwood Outlet
- Foyleside
- Glasgow St. Enoch
- Gloucester
- Gretna Outlet
- Guildford High Street
- Gunwharf Outlet
- Harrogate
- Harrow
- Hatfield
- Hereford Commercial St
- Hounslow Treaty Centre
- Icon at O2 Outlet
- Inverness
- Kingston-Upon-Thames
- Lancaster
- Leamington Spa
- Leeds Briggate
- Leicester New Shires
- Lincoln Waterside
- Liverpool One
- Livingston Outlet
- Llandudno
- London Bridge
- Lowry Outlet
- Maidstone
- Manchester Arndale Centre
- Manchester Royal Ex
- Meadowhall High St
- Metro Centre Platinum Mall
- Milton Keynes
- Newcastle Eldon Sq
- Nottingham Bridlesmith Gate
- Oxford Street Soho
- Oxford Westgate
- Poole
- Preston
- Reading
- Romford
- Rushden Lakes
- Shrewsbury
- Skipton
- Solihull
- Southampton West Quay
- Southend
- Spalding
- St. Albans
- Staines
- Stockport
- Stratford City Westfield
- Sunderland
- Sutton
- Swindon Outlet
- Talke Hanley Outlet
- Taunton
- Thurrock
- Trafford Park
- Truro
- Tunbridge Wells Royal Victoria Place
- Uxbridge Market Square
- Warrington
- Watford
- Wembley Outlet
- White City Westfield
- Whiteley Village
- Wimbledon
- Winchester
- Windsor
- Worcester
- Worthing
- York Coppergate Walk
- York Depot