The Body Shop Canada was profitable — then its parent drained the cash and left it to die

The Body Shop Canada had a network of 105 stores and a profitable e-commerce business serving Canadian customers. But its cash was held in a central pool managed by the UK head office. When The Body Shop's UK parent entered administration in February 2024 under owner Aurelius, the pooled cash had already been transferred out of Canada — leaving the Canadian entity unable to pay its own creditors and suppliers.

On March 1, 2024, The Body Shop Canada filed for creditor protection under Canadian law, announced the closure of 33 of its 105 stores, and ceased all online operations. The Canadian business was a casualty of a global collapse that had started 18 years earlier when L'Oréal bought the brand for £652 million in 2006, destroying the very identity — ethical, independent, anti-corporate — that had made The Body Shop successful.

L'Oréal sold the chain to Brazil's Natura in 2017 for £880 million. Natura sold it to German private equity firm Aurelius for £207 million in November 2023. Within three months, the UK division owed £276 million, the US filed for Chapter 7 liquidation, and stores across Europe closed. The Canadian operations, which might have survived on their own, had been starved of their own cash.