The Body Shop says all 75 stores are closing — is your local one of them?

A total of 82 stores will be closed, meaning 489 workers will be made redundant in the coming weeks. Photo: Holly Adams/Bloomberg

The Body Shop plans to close 75 stores and cut almost 500 jobs after the business went into administration.

The stores planned to close include The Body Shop on Regent Street, London, which followed the sacking of administrators. opened its flagship store on Oxford Street last week.

FRP, which runs The Body Shop, said it would close dozens of stores over the next four to six weeks, having already closed seven stores earlier this month .

Administrators previously said they planned to preserve more than half of the 198 properties, but did not give an exact figure.

In its latest update, FRP said a total of 82 stores will close, meaning 489 workers will be made redundant in the coming weeks.

Many of the affected locations are in towns and city centers, including High Wycombe , Wolverhampton. and Bolton.

Tony Wright, one of FRP's administrators, said: «By taking swift action to right-size The Body Shop's UK store portfolio, we have stabilized the business and are best positioned for this iconic brand to have a long-term, sustainable future.»

FRP said it was «fully focused on exploring all options for growing the business».

It comes weeks after the UK chain was put into administration by owner Aurelius, who had acquired the retailer just three months earlier. .

The private equity firm bought The Body Shop at a cut-rate price of £207m, significantly less than the £870m former owner Natura paid for the business in 2017.

Company founded in 1976 year by environmentalist Anita Roddick, has made a name for herself on the high street as an ethical cosmetics retailer.

However, she has struggled in recent years amid growing competition from rivals such as Lush and Rituals.< /p>

FRP's announcement of the planned job cuts follows reports in The Telegraph earlier this month which showed the taxpayer was prepared to foot the multi-million pound redundancy bill at The Body Shop.

Staff were told in a message in a February video call that to make claims through the government-backed redundancy payment service if they were included in the redundancies.

To be eligible for redundancy pay, employees must have worked for The Body Shop for at least two years.

Aurelius, who acted as The Body Shop's main creditor before its insolvency, has been found not liable for redundancy payments.

The store closures are expected to hit landlords. across the country, including Network Rail, Landsec and Nuveen Real Estate, one of the world's largest investment managers.

Alan Spencer, head of UK retail at Savills, said in February that landlords were going to «there will have to be some effort in the process.»

The Body Shop store closures represent almost 1% of shopping center owner Hammerson's portfolio, which includes the retailer's sites in Brent Cross in London and the Bull Ring in London. Birmingham

Rita-Rose Gagne, chief executive of Hammerson, said: “While we are open to the current macroeconomic environment, our tenants are thriving and footfalls are growing across our renewed portfolio.”