New York
CNN
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The Physique Store has shut down all of its US-based operations and will probably be closing dozens of Canadian retailer places because it recordsdata for chapter.
In a news release earlier this month, the UK-based cosmetics firm introduced that its US subsidiary is now not operational, efficient March 1. It added that 33 of its 105 shops in Canada will start liquidation gross sales instantly and “on-line gross sales through Canada’s ecommerce retailer will cease,” however that each one Canadian places will stay open in the meanwhile.
Excessive inflation in recent times has harm conventional retailers, notably these like The Physique Store that predominantly operated out of malls and had been aimed on the struggling center class.
The Physique Store, recognized for merchandise it markets as pure, sustainable, moral and cruelty-free, was based in 1976 within the UK by human rights activist and environmental campaigner Anita Roddick. It was one of many first corporations to ban testing on animals for a lot of of its merchandise. In 2019 it was licensed as a “B Corp,” a designation given to corporations that meet sure transparency and environmental conscientiousness requirements.
By 2023, it had expanded to greater than 2,500 retail places in additional than 80 international locations and was out there to buy on-line in additional than 60 markets.
Since its inception, The Physique Store has modified palms a number of occasions. It was bought by cosmetics large L’Oréal in 2006 for greater than a billion {dollars}, earlier than being bought to Brazilian firm Natura in 2017 for one more billion {dollars}.
The model has been ailing in recent times. In an early 2023 report, Natura famous that The Physique Store was “(going through) headwinds” with a year-over-year decline of 13.5% in 2022, a 12 months the corporate mentioned “was removed from straightforward” for the model. Its direct-to-consumer channels, which had “benefitted throughout Covid,” returned to “extra normalized pre-pandemic ranges,” additional impacting gross sales numbers, Natura mentioned.
Late final 12 months, The Physique Store was sold to asset management group Aurelius for about $266 million.
CNN has reached out to The Physique Store and Aurelius for remark.