HIGH STREET PAIN
The Body Shop confirms administration putting 200 stores at risk of closure
It's the latest blow to the UK's high streets after losing several well-known brands
THE Body Shop has confirmed it has gone into administration putting 200 stores at risk of closure.
The retailer's owners Aurelius have appointed administrators at FRP Advisory throwing doubt over the future of the iconic high street brand.
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It comes just days after reports emerged that The Body Shop was set to call in administrators and begin the insolvency process.
The ailing retailer has 199 locations and employs 2,000 workers in the UK.
We have a full list of The Body Shop stores at risk of closing.
The Body Shop will continue to trade, with shops and the online site remaining open and making sales.
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Administrators FRP said said the move to place the retailer in administration “provides the stability, flexibility and security to find the best means of securing the future” of the chain.
They said: “The joint administrators will now consider all options to find a way forward for the business and will update creditors and employees in due course.”
The Body Shop was bought by private equity firm Aurelius from former owner Natura and Co in November in a deal worth £207million.
The cosmetics group said it was looking to shift its focus away from the UK market and towards South America.
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New owners Aurelius, a private equity group which also owns Lloyds Pharmacy and Footasylum, also confirmed that it sold off most of The Body Shop business in mainland Europe and parts of Asia last month.
The administration of its UK branch of the business comes just weeks after it axed the Body Shop at Home service in the UK and Australia after 30 years.
The Avon-style business lets individual consultants sell products to customers from the comfort of their home.
Thousands of consultants currently use the Body Shop at Home service, but it will close for good on February 23.
The Body Shop was founded by Anita Roddick and her husband Gordon in Brighton in 1976.
The Body Shop closes popular service after 30 years as fans cry with ‘devastated heavy hearts’ – thousands are affected
It aimed to set itself apart from other beauty retailers by focusing on ethically sourced and naturally-based ingredients.
The brand joined the L'Oreal group in 2006, before being bought by Natura and Co in 2017.
The Sun has taken a deep dive into what went wrong at the beloved chain.
It comes as a number of other retailers struggle amid surging energy costs and as consumers turn to online shopping.
A number of retailers have crashed into administration last year, including Cath Kidston, Paperchase and major discounter Wilko.
But Wilko has since returned to the high street under The Range's ownership, and Wilko branded items are being stocked in The Range stores.
Wilko's fall was the biggest British retail collapse since McColl's plunged into administration in May last year.
But the cornershop chain was saved from closure after Morrisons swooped in to protect 16,000 jobs.
Paperchase collapsed into administration at the end of January last year year and all 106 stores closed for good.
Full list of The Body Shop stores in the UK
Below is a full list of The Body Shop stores in the UK at risk of closure:
374 Oxford Street, London
66 Oxford Street, London
Ashford
Ashford Outlet
Aylesbury
Banbury
Barnstaple
Basildon
Basilton
Basingstoke
Bath
Battersea
Bedford
Beverley
Bexleyheath
Birmingham Bullring
Birmingham New Street
Blackburn
Blackpool
Bluewater
Bluewater, Greenhithe
Bolton Market Place
Bournemouth Commercial Road
Bracknell Lexicon
Bradford Broadway
Braintree Outlet
Brent Cross Shopping Centre
Bridgend Outet
Brighton
Bristol Cabot Circus
Bristol Queens Road
Brixton
Broughton Park
Bury
Bury St Edmunds
Caledonia Park Outlet
Camarthen
Camberley
Cambridge
Cambridge Station
Cannock Outlet
Cardiff St Davids
Carlisle
Carmarthen
Castleford Outlet
Chelmsford
Cheltenham
Cheshire Oaks Outlet
Chester Foregate Street
Chesterfield
Chichester
Chippenham
Cirencester
Clarks Village Outlet, Somerset
Colchester
Commercial Arcade, St Peter Port, Gurnsey
Coventry
Crawley County Mall
Cribbs Causeway
Dalton Park Outlet, Seaham
Derby Intu
Didcot
Doncaster Lakeside Outlet
Dudley
Dundee
Dunfermline
Durham
Ealing
East Kilbride
East Midlands Outlet
Eastbourne
Edinburgh Gyle
Edinburgh St James Quarter
Edinburgh Waverley Market
Enfield
Epsom
Exeter
Fareham
Farnborough
Fleetwood Outlet
Foyleside, Derry
Glasgow Braehead
Glasgow Fort
Glasgow Silverburn
Glasgow St Enoch
Glasgow Station
Gloucester
Grimsby
Guildford High Street
Gunwharf Outlet, Portsmouth
Halifax
Harlow
Harrogate
Harrow
Hastings
Hatfield Outlet
Hempstead Valley
Hereford Commercial Street
High Wycombe
Horsham
Hounslow Treaty Centre
Hove
Huddersfield
Hull
Ilford
Isle of Wight
Islington
Kendal
Kings Lynn
Kings Street, St Helier, Jersey
Kingston-Upon-Thames
Lancaster
Leamington Spa
Leeds Briggate
Leeds White Rose
Leicester High Cross
Lichfield
Lincoln Waterside
Liverpool One
Liverpool Street Station
Livingston Outlet
London Bridge
Loughborough
Luton
Macclesfield
Maidstone
Manchester Arndale
Manchester Royal Exchange
Meadowhall High Street
MediaCity UK, Manchester
Middlesborough
Milton Keynes
Morpeth
Newcastle Eldon Square
Newton Abbott
Northampton
Norwich
Nottingham Bridlesmith Gate
Nuneaton
Oldham
One New Change Shopping Centre, London
Oxford Westgate
Perth
Peterborough Queensgate
Petty Curry, Cambridge
Platinum Mall, Gateshead
Plymouth
Poole
Portsmouth
Preson
Preston
Reading
Regent Street, London
Romford
Rushen Lakes
Sailsbury
Sheffield
Shrewsbury
Solihull
Southampton
Southend
Spalding Outlet
St Albans
Stafford
Staines
Standstead Airside
Stockport
Stratford Upon Avon
Sunderland
Surrey Quays Shopping Centre
Sutton
Swansea
Swindon Outlet
Talke Hanley Outlet, Stoke-on-rent
Taunton
Telford
Thurrock
Trafford Park
Trowbridge
Truro
Tunbridge Wells
Uxbridge Market Square
Victoria Square Shopping Centre, Belfast
Wakefield Trinity Walk
Walthamstow
Warrington
Watford
Wembley Outlet
Whiteley Village Shopping Centre, Fareham
Wigan
Wimbledon
Winchester
Windsor
Woking
Wolverhampton
Worcester
Worthing
York Coppergate
York Outlet
However, the Paperchase brand name and intellectual property were purchased by Tesco.
Scottish clothing brand M&Co and wellies retailer Joules are among the familiar brands which went bust in 2022.
Like Paperchase, the M&Co brand name was purchased by Yours Clothing - but all stores shut.
Howevever, Yours Clothing has plans to open 50 new M&Co branded stores over the next two years.
But it's not all bad news. A number of retailers have opened branches this year too.
These include B&M, Peacocks and Sephora opening new sites.
The Sun has put together a full list of high street brands opening stores this year.
Who was Body Shop founder Anita Roddick?
Dame Anita Roddick, born October 23, 1942, was a British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner.
Throughout her lifetime, Anita was best known as the founder of the Body Shop - a cosmetics company producing and retailing natural beauty products.
Anita opened her first Body Shop in Brighton back in 1976.
The brand first started as a small shop providing quality skincare products in refilled bottles, with the belief that the business could be a force for good.
Following this, the Body Shop went on to become a global retail business serving over 30 million customers worldwide.
As a keen campaigner, Anita was involved in activism for environmental and social issues, such as involvement with Greenpeace and The Big Issue.
In addition to this, in 1990, the late entrepreneur founded Children on the Edge - a charitable organisation which helps disadvantaged children in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
In 2007 Anita, who also worked alongside her husband Gordan, sold the company to L’Oréal, but still played an active role in the business.
French firm L'Oreal paid £625million for the company, providing Anita and her husband Gordon with more than £100million for their 18 per cent share in the business.
In September 2007, Dame Anita Roddick passed away at 64 from a brain haemorrhage after being admitted to St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, West Sussex.
Her husband Gordon, and her two daughters, Sam and Justine, were at her side.
Prior to her passing, Anita had revealed that she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 2004.
The late founder's illness was first discovered during a routine blood test for a life insurance policy.
She had lived with the illness for more than 30 years before it was discovered - by which time she was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver.
In 2008, a year after her passing, Anita's will revealed that she had given away all of her £51million to charity and the rest to tax.
What does going into administration mean?
When a company enters administration, all control is passed to an appointed administrator - who has to be a licensed insolvency practitioner.
Their goal is to leverage the company's assets and business to repay creditors.
Once the administrator has taken over, a moratorium is placed around the company and stops all legal actions.
After the administrator takes over, there isn't much that can be done to reverse the process.
How does administration work?
The administrator will write to your creditors and Companies House to say they’ve been appointed.
They will try to stop the company from being liquidated but if they can't, the administrator will pay as much of a company's debts as possible from the assets.
The administrator has eight weeks to write a statement explaining what they plan to do.
This must be sent to creditors, employees and Companies House and invites them to approve or amend the plans at a meeting.
The administrators might try to negotiate rents with landlords to keep stores open, or they might look to close just the least profitable stores.
Refunds and gift cards - your rights explained
For now, The Body Shop will continue to process returns as normal.
But it's best to do this sooner rather than later in case the company fails to find a buyer and stops trading.
When a company goes into administration, the people appointed to manage the process can decide whether to allow the use of gift cards or not.
It means you'll need to keep an eye on the administration process to see what your rights are.
The administrators are allowed to stop accepting gift cards at any point.
If the administrators later decide that you can't use your vouchers, you should register a claim with the administrators for the value of the vouchers.
This also applies if the company can't be saved through administration and is later liquidated.
However, you may not get this money back if other creditors are owed money too. You may also only get a portion of the money back.
If the voucher or amount put on a gift card was for more than £100, then it may be possible to claim the money back if it was purchased with a credit card.
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This is because the card company is jointly liable under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
If the voucher was a gift, then you'd need to ask the person who bought it for you to claim the money back.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
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