Private Equity Investor Aurelius Group Explores Acquisition of The Body Shop

Te Body Shop of Anita Rodick lost its way in its treatment of franchisees in the late 1990s! By expanding in the U.S. it chose some dedicated franchises, but forgot that its growth can come only from the success of those who invested 300,000 dollars and massive amounts of time making the shops work! Employees of he franchisees were excited and loved the concept of the shops but were disappointed in the responsiveness of the company in the U.S. As a franchise owner we had a unique demographic. For example, one third of our sales were in the makeup lines. The company changed its products to confirm to the needs of only Anglos makeup needs. We had most sales to customers from Mexico and the local community, which was mainly brown, pink did not work and te company refused to go produce product for our demographic. They did, however have shops in Mexico, yet refused to manufacture or import the needed products for shops in te Southwest and many other areas such as Florida and minority communities in New York and the rest of the U.S.! They were forced to spend a substantial amount to buy back my shop and others. After the transfer they tried to fire a good employee who needed a simple accommodation when using the cash register!