The company was acquired by private equity firm Aurelius Group last year
If you’re a U.S. shopper who wanted to get one more skincare deal from The Body Shop, it’s already too late. The beauty company, which went into the U.K. equivalent of bankruptcy in February, announced that it was closing all of its U.S. stores as part of its restructuring.
“Effective today, March 1, 2024, The Body Shop US Limited has ceased operations,” the company tucked into a press release earlier this month about how all of its Canadian stores would be remaining open for business. There were 50 Body Shop stores in the U.S.
The Body Shop was founded in 1976 and became a household name for its fragrant scrubs, lotions, and other products. It also made a name for itself by pushing its customers to consume ethically via fair trade raw materials and other methods. It became a certified B corp in 2019. But as competitors in the space, like Lush, came to market, its mastery of the sustainability niche wasn’t enough to keep it going.
Its struggles to keep up with consumer preferences, however, stands in stark contrast to a former corporate sibling. Onetime parent company Natura Cosméticos of Brazil sold The Body Shop to private equity firm Aurelius Group in November for £207 million ($254.32 million) after having acquired it for £880 million from L’Oréal in 2017. Last April, on the other hand, Natura sold fancy soapmaker Aesop to L’Oréal for $2.5 billion after having acquired a majority stake for about $70 million in 2012.
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