Major beauty retailer to shut TWO more city centre branches after being rescued from administration
A popular British high street chain will close two more shops in weeks despite being saved from administration just months ago.
The Body Shop will close two shops in Devon this month in a fresh blow to shoppers.
The stores in Exeter and Plymouth will close their doors for the last time after several decades of trading.
A sign on the front door of The Body Shop in the Exeter Guildhall Shopping Centre states that it will close on January 15.
It reads: “Dear valued customer, it is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of the Harsant Franchise of The Body Shop in Exeter and Plymouth.
“We want to express our dearest gratitude for your loyalty and support over the 45 years that we have been trading in Exeter. Our last business will be on January 15, 2025.”
“Until then, we will be offering discounts on all remaining merchandise to clear our stock. Thank you once again for your support and understanding during this difficult time.”
Shoppers have taken to social media to share their disappointment that the store is set to close.
One Facebook user said: “It’ll be a massive loss for Exeter and the guildhall centre”.
Meanwhile, another said: “Oh noo I love the body shop, so sorry to hear this!”
The Body Shop was founded in 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick and has 113 stores across the UK.
The cosmetics and skincare chain was saved from administration earlier this year after mass store closures.
The firm went under in February and in the following months closed 82 shops in the UK and cut up to 800 jobs.
Nearby stores in Newton Abbot and Barnstable were among those which shut their doors for good.
At the time, the business employed around 1,500 people.
In September, the company was bought by growth capital firm Aurea Group.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
Aurea told The Sun it had no immediate plans to shut any of The Body Shop’s remaining stores.
But since then it has confirmed that it will shut a shop in Norwich after 44 years of trading.
The shop in Castle Street will close its doors for the last time on January 15.
It has also confirmed that it will shut a shop in Sheffield city centre after 34 years of trading.
The store in Orchard Square will pull down its shutters for the last time on January 15.
The Body Shop was approached for comment.
Other store closures
The Body Shop is not the only retailer which is set to close stores this month.
Stationer WHSmith will close one of its stores in Bournemouth, Dorset, this month.
The shop on Old Christchurch Road will close for good on January 18.
The book and stationery chain has closed ten stores since March 2023, including shops in Somerset and Manchester.
H&M-owned fashion chain Monki will shut two of its stores in the coming weeks.
Those set for closure are located at the Intu shopping centre in Newcastle Upon Tyne and in Manchester’s Arndale Centre.
The Newcastle branch has already shut up shop while the Manchester branch will close on January 17.
H&M plans to close seven Monki stores as it merges the brand with the youthful fashion chain Weekday.
Coffee giant Starbucks is also set to close two of its cafes this month.
The American coffee chain will shut its cafe on Dumfries high street on January 12.
Meanwhile, the Starbucks branch inside the Cineworld at Sixfields Leisure will shut for good on January 19.
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