The Physique Store Canada will shut practically a 3rd of its shops and finish on-line gross sales because it seeks creditor safety, the Canadian subsidiary of the U.Ok. magnificence and cosmetics store introduced Friday.
A courtroom submitting confirmed the corporate owes greater than $3.3 million to unsecured collectors and about $16,400 to secured collectors.
The corporate didn’t say what number of staff would lose their jobs because of the shop closures in cities together with Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon and Saint John.
The corporate mentioned in a press launch it hopes Ontario courtroom proceedings will give it “respiratory room” whereas it evaluates its strategic alternate options and engages in restructuring.
As a part of that restructuring, the corporate will not settle for reward playing cards, promote new reward playing cards or present refunds, and can contemplate all new and former purchases remaining, mentioned Physique Store North America president Jordan Searle in a memo despatched to Canadian workers on Friday and obtained by The Canadian Press.
The transfer comes after The Physique Store Worldwide was acquired by a personal fairness agency and put into administration final month, permitting it to restructure or wind down with out paying off its money owed.
At the moment, the corporate advised CBC Information that its Canadian shops wouldn’t be impacted by the change.
CBC Information has reached out to a spokesperson for extra info.
Closure of on-line retailer a ‘shock,’ says retail skilled
Whereas the writing was on the wall for the corporate’s Canadian shops after the U.Ok. department filed for administration, the closure of its on-line retailer comes as a shock, mentioned Craig Patterson, the founder and writer of Retail Insider.
“It does, truthfully, very a lot shock me that that kind of transfer could be made in a Canadian market,” he mentioned.
Customers who not have entry to a brick-and-mortar retailer however who should still need to store at The Physique Store would have completed so on-line, he mentioned.
He famous that a number of the firm’s opponents, reminiscent of the favored U.Ok. retailer Lush Cosmetics, have a web based presence in Canada. Lush additionally operates brick-and-mortar shops throughout the nation.
“Simply not having that internet presence, I feel, goes to be detrimental to the corporate in Canada,” mentioned Patterson.
The corporate, which was based in 1976, took on an environmentally pleasant ethos to differentiate itself within the cosmetics retail world, touting its cruelty-free method to testing.
Lianne Foti, affiliate professor on the Gordon S. Lang Faculty of Enterprise and Economics on the College of Guelph, says that over time, it turned tougher for The Physique Store to distinguish itself within the market as extra opponents began providing moral and sustainable alternate options.
“The moral magnificence and skincare market, they’ve actually seen vital improve in manufacturers that promote related values,” Foti mentioned in an interview with CBC Information. “So what was as soon as a novel promoting proposition for The Physique Store is now a standard declare amongst many manufacturers.”
Record of shops closing
The Physique Store Canada’s 105 shops throughout the nation are nonetheless open for enterprise, the corporate mentioned. The Physique Store U.S. has additionally ceased operations, in line with the discharge.
The 33 places which might be closing, listed beneath, will instantly begin liquidation gross sales.
Ontario
Bayview Village (Toronto); Rideau Centre (Ottawa); Carlingwood Mall (Ottawa); Cataraqui City Centre (Kingston); Lynden Park Mall (Brantford); Stone Street Mall (Guelph); Dufferin Mall (Toronto); The Outlets at Don Mills (Toronto); Fairview Park Mall (Kitchener); Timmins Sq. (Timmins); Queen Avenue East (Toronto); Toronto Pearson Terminal 1 (Toronto); Lambton Mall (Sarnia); Place d’Orleans (Ottawa); Lansdowne Place (Peterborough)
Alberta
Sunridge Mall (Calgary); Londonderry Mall (Edmonton); Lloyd Mall (Lloydminster); Drugs Hat Mall (Drugs Hat); Park Place (Lethbridge)
Saskatchewan
Cornwall Centre (Regina); Lawson Heights (Saskatoon); The Centre (Saskatoon); Midtown Plaza (Saskatoon)
British Columbia
Semiahmoo (White Rock); Hillside Buying Centre (Victoria); Village Inexperienced (Vernon)
New Brunswick
McAllister Place (Saint John); Champlain Place (Dieppe)
Nova Scotia
Mayflower Mall (Sydney); Truro Mall (Truro)
Manitoba
Consumers Mall (Brandon)
Newfoundland and Labrador
Nook Brook Plaza (Nook Brook)
