No relaunch for Belgian The Body Shop branch

The Body Shop‘s Belgian shops will not be given a second chance following their bankruptcy in February. Their stocks have already been sold to Dutch franchisees.

Belgium KO, Netherlands uncertain

Receiver Alice van der Schee blames the failure of the restart on the expiry of the franchise agreement for the Belgian shops, RTL Nieuws reports. Meanwhile, the shops’ stocks have already been sold to Dutch franchisees for 140,000 euros. The receiver is also investigating whether the shop fixtures can be sold off.

The Belgian shops were part of the cosmetics brand’s Dutch branch, but had shrunk in number to just twelve shops with 66 employees. Belgian annual sales were five million euros between 2021 and 2023, with a net loss just over 100,000 euros in 2022.

Founded in 1976, The Body Shop enjoyed great success selling long-lasting personal care products. However, its takeover by L’Oréal in 2006 marked the beginning of a downward spiral. Late last year, German investor Aurelius took over and set in motion a rigorous reorganisation, but this failed to save the UK parent company and its German subsidiary. This demise eventually also led to the bankruptcy of the Belgian shops. It is still unclear what the consequences will be for The Body Shop’s 27 Dutch outlets.