stores were shut down<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhile disappointing for the new owners, it meant a clean slate for them to rebuild from.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we love the brand and we saw it as a massive opportunity when they reached out and were like, \u2018Hey are you interested in taking this forward?\u2019. We just latched on to it with both hands,\u201d Wyman said.<\/p>\n
New opportunity<\/p>\n
Version3 Limited has bought the rights to the business outright in New Zealand and has been working with the UK parent company to relaunch it, with no stores or stock to build off.<\/p>\n
The business has a franchise agreement with the parent company, and while Wyman said the agreement certainly isn\u2019t make-or-break, there are commercial targets for them to hit.<\/p>\n
Wyman confirmed the first store would open in Nelson\u2019s Richmond Mall by mid-November, with construction set to be finished in a week\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent half my time in business socks and steel toes, so it\u2019s a strange dichotomy. The new look of the shop is the first-ever in New Zealand. It\u2019s called the workshop and we\u2019ve never had that style of store before.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you go to The Body Shop UK, they just launched in Oxford Street a similar look, but it\u2019s the first in New Zealand. We\u2019re pretty excited for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wyman and Bonira described the store as one that allows customers to interact with the product in a more hands-on experience.<\/p>\n
The new owners have also rebuilt a new website and e-commerce platform for the business from scratch, which has already launched.<\/p>\n
With the first store set to open shortly, Wyman and Bonira already have their eyes set on potential new locations in the years ahead, including Auckland and Christchurch.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristchurch traditionally has a good customer base there and they\u2019re really passionate about the brand, so that would probably be an easy first step, and Auckland is in everyone\u2019s cross-hairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wyman said the brand\u2019s revival could also see previous staff return to the store, noting their serious passion for the brand and its ethos.<\/p>\n
As for what comes next, Wyman\u2019s message to Kiwis was simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would love to see them back. People are really interested in the local relaunch or phoenix story, but also the products speak to themselves. We also really hope that people will resonate with the local ownership.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the new owners in the UK, there\u2019s been an injection of positivity and research and development and we can\u2019t spill any secrets, but there\u2019s some really exciting things coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Founded in 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick in England, The Body Shop will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.<\/p>\n
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n
Listen and subscribe to the Today in Business<\/a> podcast \u2013 the top headlines from the NZ Herald business team summarised and delivered by an artificial intelligence (AI) voice as an easily digestible recap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But now the business is coming back with a locally owned franchise named Version3 Limited rebuilding the brand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[74,5272,1244,682,7800,4463,138,1656,69066,71,2739,440,117,111,139,69,90,9769,659,6443,12718,1436,1326,3243,223,8238,810,102,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-116836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-ashes","10":"tag-beauty","11":"tag-being","12":"tag-body","13":"tag-brand","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-company","16":"tag-ethical","17":"tag-from","18":"tag-liquidation","19":"tag-local","20":"tag-new","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-newzealand","23":"tag-nz","24":"tag-on","25":"tag-owners","26":"tag-retailer","27":"tag-returns","28":"tag-rights","29":"tag-rise","30":"tag-shop","31":"tag-snapped","32":"tag-the","33":"tag-under","34":"tag-up","35":"tag-with","36":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}