The Body Shop To Close 33 Stores In Canada, File For Creditor Protection

The Body Shop Canada is filing for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), closing 33 of its stores, and shutting down its e-commerce operations, the company said on Friday, weeks after its parent company also launched restructuring efforts in the United Kingdom.

The company says it will immediately begin liquidating the 33 stores, which represents around a third of the company's 105 total stores in Canada.

Most of the 33 stores that will be shuttering are located in Ontario, followed by the Prairies, and Atlantic Canada, with British Columbia seeing the fewest store closures. The 33 locations that will be closing are:

Ontario

1. Bayview Village (Toronto)
2. Carlingwood Mall (Ottawa)
3. Cataraqui Town Centre (Kingston)
4. Dufferin Mall (Toronto)
5. Fairview Park Mall (Kitchener)
6. Lambton Mall (Sarnia)
7. Lansdowne Place (Peterborough)
8. Lynden Park Mall (Brantford)
9. Place d'Orleans (Orleans)
10. Queen Street East (Toronto)
11. Rideau Centre (Ottawa)
12. Stone Road Mall (Guelph)
13. The Shops at Don Mills (Toronto)
14. Timmins Square (Timmins)
15. Toronto Pearson Terminal 1 (Toronto)

1. Cornwall Centre (Regina)
2. Lawson Heights (Saskatoon)
3. Lloyd Mall (Lloydminster)
4. Londonderry Mall (Edmonton)
5. Medicine Hat Mall (Medicine Hat)
6. Midtown Plaza (Saskatoon)
7. Park Place (Lethbridge)
8. Shoppers Mall (Brandon)
9. Sunridge Mall (Calgary)
10. The Centre (Saskatoon)

1. Champlain Place (Dieppe)
2. Corner Brook Plaza (Corner Brook)
3. Mayflower Mall (Sydney)
4. McAllister Place (Saint John)
5. Truro Mall (Truro)

British Columbia

1. Hillside Shopping Centre (Victoria)
2. Semiahmoo (White Rock)
3. Village Green (Vernon)

Creditor Protection

Companies that file for CCAA creditor protection can often come through the other end and continue operating their businesses, as the protection is designed with that purpose in mind. The protection prevents creditors from taking action against the company, giving the company breathing room to reorganize its finances — selling off parts of its operations, as one example — in order to continue operating in the long run.

However, the situation is a bit more dire for The Body Shop.

On February 13, The Body Shop's UK parent company was put into administration — a British equivalent of creditor protection — by Aurelius Group, the German private equity firm that only recently acquired The Body Shop in November 2023 for $254.32M USD. Aurelius acquired The Body Shop from Brazil's Natura & Co, who acquired the company from France's L'Oréal in June 2017 for $1.1B. Prior to that, the company was owned by the Roddicks since it was founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick.

Upon being placed into administration, the company said it would be closing approximately half of its 198 stores in the UK and that around 40% of its head office staff would be let go. Days later, the company's German arm also fell into administration. Yesterday, the company's Belgian and Danish arms followed suit.

On Friday, the company also said it's American arm had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and would be closing of all its stores.

In Canada, The Body Shop announced that it had reached a partnership with Shoppers Drug Mart in August 2023, which was the company's first expansion outside of its own standalone retail stores.

The Body Shop stores in Canada will remain open, but the company's e-commerce website has already been shuttered, although a message upon visiting the website cites maintenance as the reason.

"We're currently undergoing planned maintenance, but don't worry we're due to be back online soon."