FORMERLY PE OWNED
The Body Shop (U.S.)
Includes Body Shop, The Body Shop
beauty · Wake Forest, NC
- PE Firm
- Aurelius Group
- Year Acquired
- 2023
Private equity bought The Body Shop, and within months the stores were closing. One of the fastest collapses retail has ever seen.
What Happened
- Aurelius Group bought The Body Shop from Natura &Co in November 2023 for roughly $258 million, promising to 're-energise' the iconic brand
- By February 2024, the UK parent was placed into administration. On the way down it swept the U.S. subsidiary's cash, leaving the American operation with no funding
- The U.S. arm filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in March 2024 — not Chapter 11 reorganization, but straight liquidation, meaning there was no plan to save anything
- From acquisition to total U.S. liquidation in approximately four months, one of the fastest buyout-to-collapse cycles ever recorded in retail
The Damage Done
- All 50 U.S. stores closed abruptly in March 2024. The U.S. arm ceased operating as of March 1, and its own bankruptcy filings say it got no advance notice of the UK parent's collapse
- Hundreds of U.S. employees lost their jobs without warning. Fired workers sued The Body Shop over the mass layoffs just days after the Chapter 7 filing
- An ethical-beauty pioneer vanished from American retail entirely. For a year and a half there was no official way to buy the brand in the U.S. at all
- The Body Shop only returned to the U.S. in October 2025 as an online-only operation under new ownership. The stores, and the jobs, didn't come back
Sources
- The Body Shop shuts down in the U.S. after filing for bankruptcy — NBC News(2024-03-13)
- The Body Shop's US operation forced into liquidation as UK parent takes its cash — Retail Dive(2024-03-12)
- The Body Shop sold to private equity — Retail Dive(2023-11-14)
- The Body Shop, Aurelius Sued Over Mass Layoffs Amid Bankruptcy — Bloomberg Law(2024-03-11)
- The Body Shop is breaking back into the US market — Cosmetics Business(2025-10-09)
- AURELIUS acquires iconic global beauty brand and retailer The Body Shop (official press release)(2023-11-15)