The Body Shop reopened at Richmond Mall, pictures, in November 2025, following the collapse of its previous New Zealand operator. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great brand, it\u2019s got an amazing following, a really strong legacy, but you\u2019ve still got to get a brand moving and that takes a lot of time and energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a fabulous team but it has taken all of their efforts, and all of our efforts, every penny we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple launched a new online operation last October, followed by their first physical store at Richmond Mall, near Nelson, in November.<\/p>\n
Wyman said the Richmond store had been trading well, but the move into Christchurch represented a significant step up.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting into a property like [Riccarton] is great for us, great for visibility, great for trade.\u201d<\/p>\n
The previous New Zealand business entered voluntary administration in January 2025 after financial difficulties at its British parent company.<\/p>\n
Creditors subsequently voted to place the local operation into liquidation, with reported liabilities of about $12m.<\/p>\n
Wyman said the previous collapse had damaged the brand\u2019s reputation, but its loyal customer base had given the couple confidence to invest in its revival.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe brand is strong, the brand is loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have people running across the mall saying, \u2018I can\u2019t believe you\u2019re back\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the company was now eyeing further expansion, with Auckland a likely next destination, with other regional centres.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve obviously got all the main centres in the crosshairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were looking to probably grow one a year, maybe 2 a year over the next 3 or 4 and then just see where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the growth of online shopping, Wyman believed physical stores remained essential for beauty retailers because customers wanted to experience products before buying them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to communicate how something smells and feels in a blog post or a social media or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Christchurch opening comes before the busy Christmas trading period, with Wyman expecting the store to employ between 10 and 14 people, including casual staff.<\/p>\n
He said recruitment had already attracted strong interest: \u201cThere was quite an avalanche of respondents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new Riccarton store was still undergoing its fit-out, including a large mural by a local artist.<\/p>\n
Wyman said one of the biggest challenges was making customers aware that the retailer had returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone knows that we\u2019re closed, but it\u2019s harder to get them to know that we\u2019re open.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Body Shop, founded in Britain by Dame Anita Roddick in 1976, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.<\/p>\n
Ben Tomsett is a journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Body Shop reopened at Richmond Mall, pictures, in November 2025, following the collapse of its previous New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[85917,74,806,1244,7800,4463,138,4487,17400,42503,14768,13689,305,16569,296,137609,7494,1132,23158,117,111,139,69,26692,9769,37250,2170,13382,6443,12900,38985,1326,131,223,8229,61,102,1530,80],"class_list":["post-648109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-12m","tag-after","tag-as","tag-beauty","tag-body","tag-brand","tag-business","tag-christchurch","tag-collapse","tag-collapsed","tag-every","tag-expansion","tag-have","tag-iconic","tag-into","tag-invested","tag-less","tag-million","tag-nationwide","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-owing","tag-owners","tag-penny","tag-plan","tag-returning","tag-returns","tag-revealing","tag-reviving","tag-shop","tag-than","tag-the","tag-they","tag-to","tag-with","tag-years","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648109","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=648109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}