The Body Shop files for bankruptcy in the US and Canada
The UK-based cosmetics company has shut down all of its US-based operations
The Body Shop has filed for bankruptcy in the US and Canada after its UK parent’s collapse last month.
The UK-based cosmetics company is reported to have shut down all its US-based operations, closing its 50 outlets.
Meanwhile, 33 of the 105 shops in Canada have been closed, losing more than 200 jobs.
While the company is struggling to pay suppliers in Australia as the group’s most profitable overseas businesses struggle with cash shortages.
The US arm of the ethical cosmetics group on March 16, Saturday filed for Chapter 7 insolvency, under which assets are sold off to clear debts, putting about 400 jobs at risk including those in a distribution center that still holds millions of dollars worth of stock.
Filings in Canada reveal that the Body Shop owed $3.3m (£1.9m) to landlords, logistics, providers, marketing agencies, insurers, utilities, and freight service providers when it entered insolvency on 1 March. The company stated that it no longer had access to its e-commerce platform or the ability to ship to wholesale partners including Amazon or to receive new stocks because of difficulties in paying suppliers.
In February The Body Shop’s UK arm collapsed only months after a German private equity group, Aurelius, bought the group founded by the late environmental and human rights campaigner Anita Roddick.
