SHG partially acquires The Body Shop after bankruptcy, announces relaunch of Dutch operations

SHG Retail has acquired at least five Body Shop locations in the Netherlands and will relaunch its operations under the new ownership, according to The Body Shop curator Cedric de Breet.

German entrepreneur Stefan Herzberg, through SHG, says the acquisition is part of a broader restructuring effort after The Body Shop filed for bankruptcy in multiple countries in early November 2024.

The stores set to reopen are in Batavia Stad, Roermond, Roosendaal, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Herzberg, who successfully revived 21 German branches of The Body Shop earlier this year, may expand his acquisition to include additional Dutch stores in the coming weeks.

Five other franchise-operated locations, unaffected by the bankruptcy, will continue to operate independently. Additionally, The Body Shop’s Dutch online store, which had been inaccessible for numerous months preceding the bankruptcy announcement, will resume activity, redirecting customers to the German website for faster service.

The bankruptcy filing in the Netherlands affected 27 stores and around 100 employees. Initially founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick in the UK, the brand experienced rapid growth before being sold to L’Oréal in 2006. Under its current ownership by private equity firm Auréa, the relaunch is part of an ongoing effort to stabilize the company.

Context from earlier developments

The Body Shop has been flirting with financial ruin and multiple store closures across several countries, including the UK, Belgium, the US and Canada. Following the Dutch declaration, the brand made several operational changes, preventing the use of gift cards and limiting payments to cards only. The Dutch website also displayed a notice that it was being updated while offline, which complicated customer access.

The court-appointed trustee, de Breet, was tasked with exploring potential recovery options for the Dutch operations while refraining from elaborating on the specific causes of the bankruptcy. These causes still have not been made public.

In November, De Breet noted that it was too early to say if the company has a path forward. With SHG Retail’s acquisition, that path is now more evident. However, the full extent of the relaunch still depends on pending decisions regarding any additional locations that might join the five revived.