The Body Shop in Peterborough’s Lansdowne Place Mall is one of 33 stores across Canada that will close as the Canadian subsidiary of the U.K. personal care products retailer announced it was filing for bankruptcy protection on Friday (March 1).
Late last year, The Body Shop International was acquired by private equity firm Aurelius Investment and, in February, the British subsidiary went into administration, which is a form of creditor protection.
“Following the commencement of administration proceedings in the United Kingdom by its parent company, The Body Shop Canada is commencing this (notice of intention) process to obtain a stay of proceedings to provide additional breathing room while it evaluates its strategic alternatives and implements certain restructuring initiatives,” reads a media release from The Body Shop Canada.
Included in the announcement from The Body Shop Canada was a statement that The Body Shop US Limited has ceased operations effective Friday.
Originally founded in Brighton, England in 1976 by Anita Roddick and her husband, The Body Shop was one of the first companies to promote “ethical consumerism,” including fair trading practices and no animal testing for its cosmetics and skin care products.
Roddick and her husband sold The Body Shop to beauty corporation L’Oreal in 2006 (Roddick died the following year), which then sold the company to Brazilian cosmetics business Natura & Co. (which owns the Avon brand) in 2017. In December, Natura sold the company to Aurelius Investment for 207 million pounds (around $355 million Canadian).
The popular brand expanded into Canada in 1980. The Body Shop Canada sold itself to the U.K. parent company for about $26 million. The Canadian subsidiary currently has 105 store locations across the country, and recently expanded its products into 50 Shoppers Drug Mart stores.
As part of its notice of intention to file for bankruptcy protection, The Body Shop Canada is immediately commencing liquidation sales at the 33 stores that “will close in the near term.” The remaining 72 stores remain open for business for the time being, but online sales through the Canadian ecommerce store will stop.
Here are The Body Shop stores that are closing across Canada:
- Bayview Village (Toronto)
- Lawson Heights (Saskatoon)
- Rideau Centre (Ottawa)
- Carlingwood Mall (Ottawa)
- Lloyd Mall (Lloydminster)
- Semiahmoo (White Rock)
- Cataraqui Town Centre (Kingston)
- Londonderry Mall (Edmonton)
- Shoppers Mall (Brandon)
- Champlain Place (Dieppe)
- Lynden Park Mall (Brantford)
- Stone Road Mall (Guelph)
- Corner Brook Plaza (Corner Brook)
- Mayflower Mall (Sydney)
- Sunridge Mall (Calgary)
- Cornwall Centre (Regina)
- McAllister Place (Saint John)
- The Centre (Saskatoon)
- Dufferin Mall (Toronto)
- Medicine Hat Mall (Medicine Hat)
- The Shops at Don Mills (Toronto)
- Fairview Park Mall (Kitchener)
- Midtown Plaza (Saskatoon)
- Timmins Square (Timmins)
- Hillside Shopping Centre (Victoria)
- Park Place (Lethbridge)
- Toronto Pearson Term. 1 (Toronto)
- Lambton Mall (Sarnia)
- Place d’Orleans (Orleans)
- Truro Mall (Truro)
- Lansdowne Place (Peterborough)
- Queen Street East (Toronto)
- Village Green (Vernon)
