Body Shop reviews store format

Design consultancy Blast confirmed this week that it is working on a packaging project for The Body Shop, having been brought in by creative head Jon Turner. Blast declined to comment on the exact nature of the project.

The retailer’s packaging was given a full review at the end of 1995, the first major packaging change in The Body Shop’s history. The move coincided with work by Land Architects on new store formats.

The chain is denying it has problems with the result of the store format project, currently on trial in London’s Oxford Street. Sources close to The Body Shop say that, following poor results, it has commissioned a “secret” replacement for the format.

The format, opened in September last year, was developed by an in-house team following initial concepts by Land. However, a spokesman at Land says: “What [The Body Shop] is doing in Oxford Street is supposed to have been based on our original design, but it didn’t show through.”

A Body Shop spokesman says: “Essentially, we are comfortable with the store, but won’t comment on individual store performance.” He adds that no external designers are working on a replacement because the company has a “top in-house team”.

Asked whether the design of the Oxford Street store will remain the same, the spokesman says: “It’s a trial store and was billed as such. Inevitably, there will be innovations.”