Trio of Wiltshire Body Shop branches to be closed
The skincare and cosmetics chain entered administration earlier this month
Last updated 29th Feb 2024
The administrators of cosmetics chain Body Shop have announced the closure of a further 75 shops and said that 489 people will lose their jobs.
That includes the stores in Salisbury's Old George Mall, Trowbridge's Shire Shopping Centre and on Borough Parade in Chippenham.
They said the closures will bring its store estate in line with industry rivals and will support "a return to financial stability".
The Body Shop was founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick and her husband Gordon in Brighton as one of the first companies to promote so-called ethical consumerism.
The closures listed below come on top of seven others announced last week.
The list of the next 75 shops that will close:
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
Banbury, Oxfordshire
Barnstaple, Devon
Basildon, Essex
Battersea, Greater London
Bedford, Bedfordshire
Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire
Bexleyheath, Greater London
Blackburn, Lancashire
Blackpool, Lancashire
Bournemouth Commercial Rd, Dorset
Bolton, Greater Manchester
Brixton, Greater London
Broughton Park, Cheshire
Bury, Greater Manchester
Camberley, Surrey
Carlisle, Cumbria
Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire
Chippenham, Wiltshire
Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Croydon, Greater London
Didcot, Oxfordshire
Durham, County Durham
East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire
Edinburgh Gyle Centre, Midlothian
Edinburgh Princes Mall, Midlothian
Epsom, Surrey
Fareham, Hampshire
Farnborough, Hampshire
Glasgow Braehead, Lanarkshire
Glasgow Fort, Lanarkshire
Glasgow Silverburn, Lanarkshire
Glasgow Station, Lanarkshire
Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Harlow, Essex
Hastings, East Sussex
Hempstead Valley, Kent
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Ilford, Greater London
Ipswich, Suffolk
Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight
Islington, Greater London
Kendal, Cumbria
Kings Lynn, Norfolk
Leeds White Rose, West Yorkshire
Lewisham Centre, Greater London
Lichfield, Staffordshire
Loughborough, Leicestershire
Luton, Bedfordshire
Macclesfield, Cheshire
Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire
Morpeth, Northumberland
Newton Abbot, Devon
Northampton, Northamptonshire
Oldham, Greater Manchester
Perth, Perthshire
Peterborough Queensgate, Cambridgeshire
Portsmouth, Hampshire
Regent Street, Greater London
Salisbury, Wiltshire
Stafford, Staffordshire
Stansted Airside, Essex
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
Swansea, Glamorganshire
Telford, Shropshire
Thanet, Kent
Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Wakefield Trinity Walk, West Yorkshire
Walthamstow, Greater London
Wigan, Greater Manchester
Woking, Surrey
Wolverhampton, West Midlands
The latest announcement will leave the Body Shop with 116 stores across the UK, including in Swindon's Designer Outlet.
Tony Wright, joint administrator, said: "In taking swift action to right-size The Body Shop UK store portfolio, we have stabilised the business and are providing the best opportunity for this iconic brand to have a long-term, sustainable future.
"The UK business continues to trade in administration, and we remain fully focused on exploring all options to take the business forward."
The insolvency specialists stressed they will support all affected staff with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.
The business had employed around 1,500 store workers before the administration.
It was announced last week around 270 head office jobs would be cut, leaving around 400 workers at The Body Shop's London headquarters.
It hired administrators, who will assess offers for the brand and its assets, after years of financial struggles and amid a challenging backdrop for shoppers.
The dramatic overhaul comes only weeks after European private equity firm Aurelius took control of the business.