“We expected it, but we are all shocked”, laments the franchisees association

“It’s a little bit of amazement,” reacted, Friday April 5, at the microphone of France Inter Pierre-Marie Moreau, president of the association of franchisees of The Body Shop in France, the day after the French subsidiary of this chain of cosmetics stores was placed in receivership.

Since its takeover by a German investment fund Aurelius at the end of 2023, the group has been plagued by difficulties. In the United Kingdom, the parent company filed for bankruptcy in mid-February and announced nearly 500 layoffs. In France, the Paris commercial court granted a six-month observation period to French stores on Thursday. The president of the franchise association of The Body Shop in France explains that he “expected” to this announcement taking into account “what is happening across European countries for The Body Shop brand”. “We had been prepared for the news”, he adds. But Pierre-Marie Moreau admits to having been “shocked” by this decision.

The Body Shop employs 260 people in 66 stores, including seven franchises. All “opened less than a year ago”, assures the president of the association of franchisees of The Body Shop in France. This manager of a franchised store in Poitiers (Vienna) is all the more stunned by the placement in receivership that “the latest franchise opened in early December 2023”.