Retailer Coop will not extend the franchise contract with cosmetics seller The Body Shop. The brand will then be forced to close its 33 stores across the country at the end of May.
The 108 employees concerned should be reassigned within the cooperative, Coop said in a press release on Tuesday. In Fribourg, this concerns four people. The sales areas will be reassigned to other “specialized concepts”.
The cosmetics seller has already been facing difficulties for several months. The company had filed for insolvency for its parent company in the United Kingdom in mid-February 2024. The Swiss subsidiaries of The Body Shop, taken over by Coop in 2010, were not affected by this procedure.
The concept of focusing on sustainable and natural cosmetics is now followed by many companies in the sector, said a Coop spokesperson interviewed by the AWP news agency. However, he did not specify whether this activity was loss-making or whether the end of the franchise would result in a depreciation.
