The Body Shop International PLC, recognized as The Body Shop, has a range consisting of 1,200 products, including cosmetics and make-up in its 2,500 franchised stores in 61 countries. The company, which has its international headquarters in Littlehampton, West Sussex, England, was founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick and is now part-owned by L’Oreal.
In 1970, Anita Roddick (then Anita Perilli) visited The Body Shop housed in car repairs and garage in Berkeley, California selling naturally-scented soaps and lotions called The Body Shop. The shop run by Peggy Short and Jane Saunders used natural ingredients and helped to employ and train immigrant women. Six years later, in 1976, Roddick opened a similar shop in the UK, using the same business name, color scheme, and cosmetic lines. In 1987, Roddick offered Short and Saunders USD 3.5 million to change their shop’s name to Body Time. By 1992 the rename was completed. From its first launch in the UK in 1976, The Body Shop experienced rapid growth, expanding at a rate of 50 percent annually.
The Body Shop stock was floated on London’s Unlisted Securities Market in April 1984, opening at 95p. After it had obtained a full listing on the London Stock Exchange, the stock was given the nickname The shares that defy gravity, as its price increased by more than 500%.
But the opening of Roddick’s first modest shop received early attention when the Brighton newspaper, The Evening Argus, carried an article about an undertaker with a nearby store who complained about the use of the name The Body Shop.
In March 2006, The Body Shop agreed to a Ј652.3 million takeover by L’Orйal. It was reported that Anita and Gordon Roddick, who set up The Body Shop 30 years previously, made Ј130 million from the sale.
